Labor Day Parade in 1902

Strawbery Banke Presents
HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH #61

Portsmouth’s first major Labor Day parade drew 15,000 onlookers and close to 2,000 marchers. Here the float of trade union carpenters approaches downtown. Following in the white coats are local barbers. Other groups included longshoremen, coal teamsters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, hod carriers, typographers and brewery workers. There was one mishap when the granite cutters 11-ton display broke through the bridge during its arrival from Kittery.

 

 

 HISTORIC PHOTOS of the Greater Portsmouth Area appear here weekly

 From HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH
Early Photographs from the Collections of Strawbery Banke
by James L. Garvin & Susan Grigg, Peter Randall Publisher
(c) Strawbery Banke Museum . All rights reserved

BONUS Close-up of Parade Crowd