Parties From the Past: Phoenixville on the Fourth

Provided to Patch by , these photos show how the borough celebrated July 4 in the past.

Parades were a regular theme, and the HSPA was able to trace the parades back to at least 1899.

In an 1899 program for the “Phoenixville’s Greatest Fourth of July,” the Chamber of Commerce pamphlet talked up the town, bragging of 65 passenger trains daily, frequent mail delivery, good sewage drainage and “an excellent uniformed police force, a well-managed fire department, having all modern appliances, including electric fire alarm.”

In the program, the July 4 celebration was outlined. It included a parade heading from Main Street to Bridge, Gay, High and Starr streets. Additionally, prayer, singing and a reading of the Declaration of Independence by Rev. Cornelius Hudson were features.

An ad boasts of fireworks for sale at Barrett’s Candy on the corner of Main and Church streets.

“Fireworks are intensely interesting to the boys just at this time,” the ad declared, offering up a dozen 10-ball Roman candles for the low price of 50 cents a dozen.

The program seemed geared to selling out-of-towners on the borough.

“The borough is beautiful for situation, with a low rate of mortality, the cemetery being the poorest patronized of all its many institutions,” it states. “There are scores of beautiful building sites, and many sites admirably located for industrial concerns, with just and equitable taxes and unsurpassed facilities for transportation.”

In future years, the parade was still a central feature, and in 1976, a wagon train made its way through the town to celebrate the Bicentennial.

Click through the photos above to see snippets of how Phoenixville celebrated Independence Day in the past.

For this year’s celebration, head to Friendship Field or look to the skies above the north side between 9 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. on July 4. No alcohol, pets or drugs are permitted at Friendship Field, which is located at Fillmore Street and Franklin Avenue. Attendees can start filing in the field at 7 p.m. You can also grab a seat at Reservoir Park.