Columbus Day in 1892:
A Great Celebration

Another Columbus Day has slipped by. The banks, post offices, and courthouses were closed, the flags were out, but to most people it was just another day. Older Kansans may recall that during their childhood things were different. Stories of the Great Discoverer were told, even false ones about how mariners had thought the earth was flat.

(They knew the Earth was round, they just thought it was smaller; when Columbus reached the West Indies he thought it was the East Indies).

By the last part of the Twentieth Century, many Americans began to express guilt about how the New World had been forcibly taken from the Indians by their Old World ancestors -- although not enough guilt to give much of it back.

Throughout the Nineteenth Century and the first half of the Twentieth Century, Columbus Day was a day of re-enactments and other great celebrations. While Americans recognized the 500th Anniversary in 1992 with guilt-ridden television documentaries and writings, their celebration was much greater in 1892 at the 400 th Anniversary.

A continent had been conquered, slavery abolished, and new inventions and industries, such as the railroads, along with universal public education, had improved human life forever, it was believed.

Eleven hundred students and faculty at the Kansas State Normal School, joined by College of Emporia faculty and students, began the celebrations at 9:30 in the morning. The KSN Assembly Room (it was too damp outside) was decorated with flags as Professor Jasper N. Wilkinson (later KSN President), conducted chapel services. (President Albert R. Taylor was out of town.)

A detail of Civil War veterans from the local posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, led by Col. E. F. Sprague, marched into the hall as Normal students formed lines along each side of the entrance and escorted them to the platform. Other students rose from their seats and waved flags or handkerchiefs. At the command of Professor Wilkinson, the students saluted the veterans, who then returned the salute.

Wilkinson read the Proclamation of the President of the United States. Rev. L.H. Holt of the First Baptist Church provided the opening prayer, and everyone stood and sang "America."
Professor Joseph H. Hill (later KSN President) spoke words of welcome, and D. W. Eastman, banker and community leader, responded on behalf of the veterans.

The veterans then raised the flag and the students saluted. All repeated: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

A group sang "Hail Columbia" and the audience sang the "Star Spangled Banner."
This was followed by an address entitled "Columbus and His Environment," by Rev. J. F. Hendy, College of Emporia president.

After the audience sang "Columbian Ode" the Rev. J. W. Stewart of the Methodist Episcopal Church spoke on "Old World Contributions to American Civilization."

"Battle Hymn of the Republic" was sung by the audience, followed by an address by a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. F. J. Sauerber, entitled "Some things the New World Has Done for the Old." The program ended with the audience singing "American Hymn" and the retiring of the colors.

The campus literary societies later presented an evening program. Other celebrations occurred in the campus Model School and in grade schools throughout the city.

Emporia's Garfield High School had elaborate decorations in each room. A program of music, oratory, and poetry concluded in five scenes with tableaus of Columbus before the Council at Salamanca asking for financial support, followed by his landing in the New World. Next was his appearance before the Queen upon his return to Spain, and finally his crowning.

The fact that Christopher Columbus was Roman Catholic was not forgotten by local Catholics. Columbus Day in Emporia was observed with a high mass. The clergy, nuns, and congregation, including the children, gathered in the school yard for patriotic speeches and songs. Thomas F. Byrnes addressed the children, telling them to be "true to their faith, their flag and their country." Candy, then a luxury, was passed out to the children.

Other observances were held at rural schools throughout the county, the state, and the nation. Columbus Day was then not just a day of bank, post office, and courthouse closings, or of advertised merchant sales. It was a major patriotic holiday.

How we view American Indians and the American past has changed, perhaps forever.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>