Part 465: Patrick J. Toomey’s Electrical Pageant for the Wichita Carnival and Fall Festival, 1900
In 1900, the “Street Railway Journal” reported, “The possibilities in the way of electrical decoration and illumination in street parades afforded by the overhead wires of a trolley road have been proved in several cities, particularly New Orleans, and views of the floats use din the Mardi Gras processions in that city last winter were published in the Street Railway Journal” (August 4, 1900, page 705). The article continued, “The unlimited current available for lighting and power to propel the flats makes it possible to secure finer spectacular effects than would otherwise be possible. This was shown during the special carnival, held June 28 in Milwaukee, in which trolley current was used for this purpose to a greater extent probably than ever before, and which was generally regarded as one of the most successful night pageants ever held on this continent.”
Toomey was involved with the electric floats in Milwaukee since 1898, when he received the news of Noxon’s death. By 1900, the Milwaukee Carnival consisted of twenty parade floats, placed on electric trucks, and lighted with 6000 lights of different colors. A variety of subjects, they were “presented without any aim at continuity of idea, but solely for their picturesque beauty and scope for fantastic display of form, color, and effulgent light.” By 1915, San Francisco’s electric parades would boast, “the first electrical pageant to be staged in the city independent of street car current;” the currents for the parade float lights were supplied by automobiles and storage batteries (San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Dec. 1915, page 61).
Toomey’s production of parade floats started in 1878 for the Veiled Prophets procession. His unique floats became a staple for Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Veiled Prophets in St. Louis, and Carnivals across the country. Illuminated parades emerged appeared all over the country, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Springfield, Illinois; El Paso, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas. The Wichita Beacon provided detailed accounts of the electric pageant in that city, giving us great insight into the design and construction of Toomey’s floats.
In 1900, the “Wichita Beacon” included an article concerning the City’s contracting P. J. Toomey to design and manufacture the electric pageant for the upcoming Wichita Carnival and Fall Festival (14 July 1900, page 5).
Here is the wonderful description of Toomey’s artistic contribution to the upcoming Wichita Carnival and Fall Festival in 1900; the event was scheduled for October 1-6.
“Contract Closed.
Electrical Pageant Will Be Given Carnival Week.
Attractions for Midway About Secured.
The Wichita Carnival and Fall Festival association yesterday closed a contract with P. J. Toomey of St. Louis for the production of his electrical pageant in this city on Friday night during street fair week. The floats, twelve in number, will be built at once by the Noxon-Toomey Scenic Art Company of St. Louis.
Sixty-five costumed characters will be required on the floats, besides 120 attendants on foot. The floats will be lighted by incandescent lamps, 150 being placed on each float. The floats will be mounted on street car trucks and run over the lines of the street railway company. The parade will be seen on Douglas and Main streets and will counter march to the starting place.
Outside of the regular scenic floats, four floats will be provided for bands. The parade will be brilliantly lighted by colored lights and the costuming of the attendants will be elaborate. The floats will be run about 200 feet apart.”
The carnival association also contracted three searchlights to be used to illuminate the streets at night, besides the other electrical decorations. A Carnival queen was be crowned with a very elaborate ceremony. “The Anthony Bulletin,” reported that colored calcium flashes would be thrown on the scenic effects and upon a chorus of one hundred female voices, dressed in white and arranged to show a red, white and blue scene” (The Anthony Bulletin, Anthony, Kansas, 6 Sept, 1900, page 4). The state of Kansas was billed as the “Italy of America,” and Wichita “the Peerless Princess of the Plains” (The Kingman Journal, Kingman, Kansas, 21 September 1900, page 5).
On October 5, 1900, the “Wichita Beacon” credited Toomey with designing and constructing the floats in St. Louis, working on them “with great care and painstaking for several months” (5 Oct. 1900, page 5). Their cost for the twelve floats and their transportation over the Missouri Pacific railroad was reported to be several thousand dollars. Each float, because of its size, occupied a special flat car. The article continued, “The street car company has arranged four cars to accommodate the various bands that will furnish the music for the occasion and these also will be trimmed and will be a feature of the grand pageant. The latter will form on Douglas, just east of the Rock Island track and at eight o’clock sharp will move west on Douglas to Main, north to Oak street and, returning over the same route, will end at the starting point.
The electricity will be supplied by the street car trolley wires. The various persons who will participate in the affair will be tastefully costumed to represent the characters they assume for the occasion in the great variety of subjects.”
Tomorrow, I will include an article that described each individual float designed by Toomey during 1900. There are amazing!
To be continued…
