{"id":104035,"date":"2025-08-27T11:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/?p=104035"},"modified":"2025-08-27T11:10:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:10:31","slug":"labor-day-parades-our-ancestors-floats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/labor-day-parades-our-ancestors-floats.html","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day Parades: Our Ancestors\u2019 Floats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article \u2013 in honor of the upcoming Labor Day parades \u2013 Melissa Davenport Berry shows some of our ancestors\u2019 floats from past parades. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

To mark Labor Day this year, I conducted research using GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> and some special photo collections to examine past Labor Day parade floats from various regions of the United States.<\/p>\n

1905: Millmen\u2019s Float Wins First Prize in Parade in San Jose, California<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, California), 10 September 1905, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This headline reads:<\/p>\n

Typified Planing Mill on a Small Scale, and Was Adjudged to Be Most Beautiful Float in Parade. Success of Float Was Due to the Efforts of a Committee, of Which W. J. Power Was the Chairman.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1910: Railroad Machinists\u2019 Float, Labor Day Parade, Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Labor Day parade float, Texas, 1910. Credit: University of North Texas Libraries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is a newspaper clip describing Labor Day festivities in the town of Tyler, Texas, in 1910.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 7 September 1910, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

Tyler, Tex., Sept. 6 \u2013 Between 3,000 and 3,500 visitors from nearby towns were here yesterday to participate in Labor Day festivities. The Cotton Belt general offices, machine shops, banks, and post office closed, and in the afternoon many of the stores. At 11 o\u2019clock there was a parade, made up of a great line of decorated floats, most of which represented the various labor organizations. The parade was formed at the City Hall and, headed by Chief of Police Burgess and led by the Tyler Kid Band, marched around the court square and through the principal streets out to Whitakers Park, where the program of the day was carried out.<\/p>\n

The principal speaker of the day was Hon. William D. Williams of Fort Worth, Railroad Commissioner.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon at Maxwell Park there was a game of ball between the Cotton Belt team and the Jacksonville nine.<\/p>\n

Excursion trains were run from Lufkin, Corsicana, and Mount Pleasant.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1912: Laundry Workers International Union, Seattle, Glee Club Float, Labor Day, Seattle, Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Laundry Workers Glee Club float. Credit: Joseph J. Kneisle; Alaska and Pacific Northwest Early Photographers Collection, University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1929: Stork Mini-Float Wins First Prize in Children\u2019s Parade in Seattle, Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), 15 September 1929, page 101<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This photo caption reads:<\/p>\n

The Prize-Winning Float at South Park\u2019s Labor Day Celebration: Mary Agnes Richardson<\/p>\n

Among many artistic ensembles entered in the children\u2019s parade this one, piloted by the 6-year-old daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Richardson, 4863 10th Ave S., [Seattle, Washington], was awarded first honors by the judges.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1932: Stars and Stripes and an \u2018Old-Timer\u2019 Come to Town, Washington, D.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 11 September 1932, page 93<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two photo captions read:<\/p>\n

The Betsy Ross float (left), one of the prize winners among the many beautiful and elaborate floats in the firemen and policemen\u2019s Labor Day parade. It won second prize for No. 31 engine company. [Note: On 14 June 1777, Congress officially adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.]<\/p>\n

An old-timer (right) comes to town. Dating back to 1741, this old hand-pumper won first prize as the oldest piece of fire apparatus in the Labor Day parade. It was entered by Reserve Hose Company No. 1 of Greencastle, Pa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1937: American Indian Actors on the Screen Actors Guild Float in Los Angeles, California<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: American Indian Screen Actors Guild float, 7 September 1937. Credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection; University of California.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other Labor Day Floats from the Archives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an early 1900s farming family ready for the Labor Day parade in Alamosa, Colorado. Their coach has been decorated with sheaves of wheat, an eagle, and a flag.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Labor Day parade float. Credit: Colorado Historic Preservation Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the 1930 Labor Day parade in Las Vegas, Neveda, comes this \u201cStandard-Merc. Furniture\u201d float.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: 1930 Labor Day parade float. Credit: University of Nevada, Las Vegas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

American fighting spirit in WWII is reflected in this float from 1942.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: \u201cWings of Victory\u201d Labor Day parade float, Detroit, Michigan,1942: Credit: Arthur S. Siegal; University of Michigan Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Happy Labor Day!!!<\/p>\n

Create a free account<\/a> at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.<\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Local 30 horse-drawn parade float, Labor Day, Savanah, Georgia, 1900. Credit: Silverstein\u2019s Studio; Southern Labor Archives, Georgia State University Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article \u2013 in honor of the upcoming Labor Day parades \u2013 Melissa Davenport Berry shows some of our ancestors\u2019 floats from past parades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":104063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12703],"tags":[59144,40,59143,2634],"class_list":["post-104035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-floats","tag-labor-day","tag-labor-day-parades","tag-parades"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/photo-0827-2025-featured-graphic-1900-parade-float.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104035"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104067,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104035\/revisions\/104067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}