The Spirit of '76: Seattle’s Grand Centennial Celebration
A meticulous guide to how Seattleites organized their first massive city-wide celebration of the American Centennial in 1876, featuring a parade, a regatta, and grand fireworks.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The citizens of Seattle determined to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of American Independence on July 4th, 1876, in a manner befitting the occasion. The day began with a National Salute of thirty-eight guns at sunrise. At 10 A.M., a rowing and sailing regatta commenced, followed by a Centennial Salute of 100 guns at noon. At 2 P.M., a procession formed on Occidental Square. The order of the procession included pioneers, the mayor and city council, the 'Car of Liberty,' local coal miners, ship carpenters, and the fire department. The line of march moved up Second Street to Main, to Commercial, to Mill, to Front, to Cherry, to Third, and finally to the University Grounds. Amusements at the University included foot, sack, and wheel-barrow races. A grand ball was held on the plaza, free to all, at 10 P.M.
“The citizens of Seattle have determined to celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of American Independence... and make it worthy of the great event.”
In 1876, the 'University Grounds' (the original UW campus) was located in what is now the downtown core, near 4th and Seneca. The intense civic organization seen here—with structured committees for everything from music to fireworks—mirrors the ongoing, highly coordinated effort it takes to maintain Seattle's vibrant, if often chaotic, public festival culture today.
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