The Early Years
Brief History
To the community minded and rose loving men
and women of yesterday and today, who have given of their time, talents and
funds to promote and support the principles of the Royal Rosarians which is to
make this world a more beautiful place in which to live, this volume is
respectfully dedicated.
Sir Knight Dr. Wm. E.
Ruggles
Historian
APPRECIATION
The compilation of facts and the recording of
events could not be accomplished without the cooperation and assistance of many
people and I wish to express my appreciation to the many Rosarians who have
made it possible to publish Rosarian History in book form.
The following men deserve a great amount of
credit for the help given me during the past three years of work on this
history of the Royal Rosarians: Dr. E.A. Pierce, who wrote our ritual and did a
lot of work on Rosarian History, W.J. Hofmann who gave me the pictures of early
Rosarian activities presented in the following pages, Geo. E. Hall our first
and only band leader for 36 years who furnished the original picture of the
band and that of Robert Krohn with the first drill team, Frank McCrillis and
David H. Smith past executive secretaries furnished very valuable data, Paul
Keyser for his untiring help in securing pictures and information, Clarence
Porter, Hubert A. Goode, Earl Perry, Roy K. Terry, Wilbur K. Hood, Dr. Donald
G. Hood, Kenneth C. Poole, Roy Burnett and Worth W. Caldwell all Past Prime
Ministers who furnished me with information from their private files, to the
Portland Rose Festival Association, to Eugene Gilbert for many pictures and to
A.R. Kohanek and his staff at the Nu-Way Printing Co. for their fine cooperation
in the printing of this history of The Royal Rosarians of Portland, Ore.
FORWARD
In the compilation of the History of the
Royal Rosarian organization, the writer has endeavored to keep in line with the
adaptation of the romantic reign of Henry VII, King of England at the
termination of the 30 Years Wars of the Roses, the ushering in of the glories
of the Tudor reign, the abolishment of tyranny and oppression, and the
establishment of free thought and equality before the law, as set forth in the
ceremonial of Knighthood of the Order. To this end, the new organization sought
to emulate those virtues of love of liberty and country so valiantly portrayed
in the annals of the history of Britain and our own land; to love and cultivate
the rose, to cherish its traditions, to seek to promote harmony and goodwill
among our people and so to try to make the world a better place in which to live.
The titles of the officers of the
organization are copied from the list of the Court of Henry VII of England.
In adopting the uniform it was decided to
choose a modest, simple suit devoid of military adornment, pure white
throughout, with a rose embroidered on the left sleeve, and all other
decorations or colors, the wearing of flowers or badges is not allowed.
The flag of our Country and the beautiful
Rosarian banner always accompany the organization upon all occasions.
A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ROYAL ROSARIANS
(This includes the
preceding events which led up to the formation of this romantic and worthwhile
civic movement.)
The history of the pioneers who came in the
covered wagons of the emigrant trains to Oregon in the middle of the last
century reveals that they brought with them the Mission rose as among their
choicest possessions. And ever throughout that historic journey of danger,
hardship, privation, the merciless heat, dust and drought, crossing the arid
plains, the women of the caravans carefully divided their scant rations of
water allotted to them from the cask with the cherished rose struggling for
life in a tiny bit of soil suspended from the bed of the wagon.
Thus with the devotion
and care of these gentle women, they were able to transplant the tiny plants to
the fertile soil of Oregon.
From the early days of
the pioneers, it had been noticed that the old Mission rose and other varieties
of roses grew
in wonderful beauty and profusion in this climate so
gifted by nature, with its equable adjustment of temperature, sunshine and
rain, that the beautiful tints of the rainbow were reflected in the gorgeous
coloring of the roses.
These facts soon began to
be recognized among the people and a friendly rivalry sprung up among the
neighborhood groups which later culminated in an exhibition.
The Portland Rose Society
held its first exhibit of roses in June 1889, President Frederick D. Holman
presiding. To it goes the credit for the birth of the Rose Festival idea.
On June 10, 1904, the
Rose Society held its first floral parade. The flower-decked vehicles,
bicycles, carryalls were fine; the horses pranced and paced, with roses woven
in their bridles. There were twenty automobiles in the line of march, carbon
arc lights flickered on 3rd Street, and the business part of the city was near
the famous Skidmore fountain. The parade was witnessed by large crowds of
enthusiastic people.
On October 14, 1905,
Mayor Harry Lane made a proposal to have a festival. The proposal was for a
rose festival to be held at some time between June 15th and August 15th of each
year, and was made on the last day of the Lewis and Clark Exposition.
The earnings of the
exposition were $130,000.00 and were to be returned to the subscribers in the
form of a dividend.
"It is nothing more
than a wild dream," said Mayor Lane as he suggested that the money be
used to buy a park surrounding the Forestry building and that all manner of
roses be grown and displayed there."It
would be," said the mayor about the proposed festival, "the greatest
permanent advertisement for this city that was ever attempted and would make
Portland's fame as a Rose City world-wide." He added, "Let the civic
improvement spirit take hold of the people; let them plant roses which will
grow here in summer with little care; let them park the streets and plant
hedges of fir trees. "
Mayor Lane's prophecy has
come true, as was proven in Copenhagen when a resident there, in answer to a
question of whether it was Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon that was meant,
replied, "We mean the Portland with the roses." In that distant city
in Denmark, thousands of miles away, plain folks, as shown by the question,
knew of the "Portland with the Roses."
In May of 1907, a
citizens meeting was called to meet at the old Commercial Club, and was
addressed by Frederick Holman, president of the Portland Rose Society,
suggesting the formation of a Rose Carnival. Three days later a larger group
voted to hold a two-day rose show and fiesta. E.W. Rowe of the Elk's Club was
elected President, E.B. McFarland was elected Secretary, and George Hutchin,
float builder, was elected Festival Manager.
The dates of the first carnival were Thursday and Friday, June
20th and 21st of 1907. During the Festival there was no monarch at all. The
rose alone was ruler. The festival deemed almost informal - just
"everybody's festival." Bill Strandborg's committee had raised $8,000
for it. Orderly management prevailed.
At the suggestion of Tom
Richardson it was decided that the grade school children should march as the
fiesta's opening event. School children, and incidentally, Robert Krohn,
beloved drillmaster, entered the rose festival scene the first year. Two
thousand children from twenty-three grade schools marched in the parade. To
Portland's astonishment they even executed neat and difficult squad movements.
The Rose Festival had won
its way into Oregon hearts. On June 27, 1907, articles of incorporation of the
Rose Festival were filed at Salem. The incorporators were H.L. Pittock, E.W.
Rowe, E.F. Cameron, George L. Hutchin, J.S. McCord, E.B. McFarland, W. Wynne
Johnson, C.N. Black, Chester A. Whitemore, and E.M. Brannick. The capital stock
was set at only $10,000.
1908 was a memorable year
in the annals of Portland. On the first day of June, at "the tick of
noon" Rex Oregonus, supreme monarch of the Kingdom of the Rose, coming
from the sea as mysteriously as did the fabled King Arthur, left the flotilla
and stepped upon the Stark Street wharf. It was the threshold of the domain he
was destined to govern for five golden years.
Portland's great fire
bell clanged and hundreds of whistles added to the din. In velvet doublet,
richly robed and gowned, his bearded majesty was an awesome figure.
The line of march
contained 200 decorated cars and a great many horse drawn vehicles.
Miss Carrie Lee Chamberlain,
daughter of Governor Chamberlain, was Queen Flora of the 1908 Festival. She
occupied an artistic rose bower float in the floral parade, drawn by four white
horses. She was attended by four maids of honor, Miss Jean Scott, Miss Freda
Kirkland, Miss Nellie Fanzer and Miss Mildred Morgan.
The "Spirit of the
Golden West" night pageant, first of the world renowned illuminated
pageants, had 20 floats, historical in character, splendidly conceived and
constructed, which drew a record crowd estimated at 90,000.
School children paraded
on Grand Avenue in large numbers under the supervision of Drill Master Robert
Krohn.
E.W. Rowe was the
festival president, and George L. Hutchin its general manager and float
builder. General Owen Sommers was Rex Oregonus.
1909-In June, at high
Noon, Rex Oregonus again coming up the majestic Willamette River from the
greatest sea of them all, stepped ashore at the Stark Street wharf, masked and
mantled in mystery, this time without a Queen. Great crowds of happy and
enthusiastic people greeted his arrival. An epochal crowd, estimated by the
press at 150,000, saw the stately floats glide by, among them the Queen of the
Nile, the Palace of Perfume, King of the Artics, Fountain of Youth, Queen of
the Flowers, and Father Time. The festival's floats achieved national fame for
beauty and cleverness of design.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ROYAL ROSARIANS
In 1911, the Golden
Potlatch committee of Seattle, while attending the Portland Rose Festival with
their decorated float, invited the Portland Commercial Club, which later merged
with the Chamber of Commerce, to be represented at the Seattle Potlatch
celebration in June of that year.
The Commercial Club
appointed a committee of which William J. Hofmann was chairman. The committee
was able to create enough interest so that a special train made the trip to
attend the ceremony of the Potlatch celebration. By reason of being chairman of
the committee, Hofmann was dubbed "Duke of Portland" and as such was
royally entertained by the King of the Potlatch. The enthusiastic visitors
promised to return in 1912, and bring "Rex Oregonus" and some active
members with them. Realizing that other cities had their marching bodies and
uniformed entertainment organizations, and believing that Portland should
respond to the challenge and play her part in extending hospitality to her
neighboring cities, the matter was discussed on the train returning home by
W.J. Hofmann, C.C. Craig, Fred Larsen and others.
It was decided to form an
organization which would represent Portland, especially during the Rose
Festival week. A few days later Hofmann, Craig, and Larsen presented the matter
to Julius Meier, who invited them to lunch to continue the discussion. It was
decided that an organization consisting of one hundred business and
professional men should be formed and that the membership be selected from the
roster of the several clubs. At a later date the committee of four selected the
names of the men to be invited. It was decided to ask George Hutchin, Manager
of the Portland Rose Festival Association, to issue a command to attend a
meeting for the purpose of forming an organization for the object above stated.
The request was granted and the following proclamation was issued.
Following this command,
seventy of the summoned guests assembled at the appointed time and the objects
of the command were discussed with much enthusiasm and a unanimous approval.
The organization was tentatively consummated, and at a later meeting officers
were elected.