The Day Seattle Put on Its Holiday Mask
As the nation prepares for Grover Cleveland’s final inauguration, local officials are busy draping Jackson Street in bunting and erecting viewing stands, turning a small Pacific Northwest town into a temporary stage for American democracy.
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The city is assuming a holiday appearance. Flags and banners are being put up on buildings along the line of the procession and work on the stands and at the pension office is approaching completion.
There is a demand for tickets for the ball, and it is supposed they will all be disposed of before the night of the 8th.
The senate committee on arrangements has issued an official order of the proceedings at the capitol on the 4th. The building will be opened at 10 o'clock to those holding cards of admission, and at 11 o'clock, the senate chamber will be thrown open.
The blue gallery will be reserved for the families of the diplomatic corps and the families of the president of the senate, president-elect and vice-president-elect will occupy seats west of the diplomatic gallery. The remaining seats, except those in the press gallery, will be open to all having tickets of admission. The president-elect and vice-president-elect will enter the capitol through the bronze doors at the head of the marble steps in the east wing of the building.
The floor of the senate will be reserved for members of the senate and house of representatives, justices of the supreme court, army and navy officers, heads of departments, and other high officials. The vice-president-elect will take the oath of office in the senate chamber.
After the organization of the senate a procession will be formed and march to the stand erected on the east front of the main part of the capitol, where the president will deliver his inaugural and be sworn in. If the weather should be stormy, this ceremony will take place in the senate chamber.
In 1893, Seattle was still a young city trying to assert its importance on the national stage, literally decorating its streets for the arrival of the President-elect. Today, while we no longer gather in grand stands on Jackson Street for inaugurations, the ritual of civic decoration and the intense local media focus on federal leadership remains a constant thread in American political culture.
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