By Mike Poniatowicz – Conshohocken Historical Society
Now that autumn is here, and the start of winter is becoming more of a reality, the Conshohocken Historical Society has been researching the many autumn and winter Conshohocken traditions. Most of the information used in this article was obtained from archival copies of the Conshohocken Recorder, which was a Conshohocken newspaper published from 1869 until 2009.
The Conshohocken autumn tradition, which is probably the most well-known, is the Halloween Parade. The origin of this parade can be traced to the 1940s, and although its form has changed through the years, this parade continues to be a Conshohocken tradition to the present day.
Prior to 1920, there was hardly any mention in the Recorder about Halloween. From about 1920 until 1946, there were small articles about Halloween, but the celebration was seen as more of a non-town-sponsored holiday. The Recorder describes any number of private Halloween parties in great detail (who were the guests, what costumes they were wearing, etc.) but makes no mention of any town-sponsored parade. Many civic organizations (churches, scouts, etc.) celebrated Halloween with their own parties. Interestingly, there were a number of articles about mischief night (which was called “gate night”), but most of these articles refer to either the control or consequences of the deeds that occurred on gate night. Amusingly, I found one article where a teenager was brought before a judge to explain his actions of soaping windows on Gate Night. After the hearing, the teenager agreed to clean the soaped windows, and the judge agreed that, since no permanent damage had been done, they could just forget it happened.
After World War II, in 1947, the Conshohocken Chamber of Commerce organized the first town-sponsored Halloween parade. It was a very big event and open to anyone in the town who wished to participate. It was front-page news in the Recorder as thousands lined the streets to view the parade. Divisions were organized in a similar fashion to today’s Philadelphia Mummers parade, and although these divisions shifted over the years, they generally were categorized as follows: Fancy Division, Impersonators, Comics and Clowns, Youngest, Floats, and Adults. Awards for costumes (which also shifted throughout the years) were given for Best Dressed Couple, Most Original Costume, Best Group, Most Unusual Costume, and Best Decorated Bicycles. The initial parade route started at First Avenue, marched up Fayette Street to Second Avenue, back down Fayette Street, across the Schuylkill River bridge to West Conshohocken, and then back across the bridge to a judges’ stand on First Avenue.
The Conshohocken Halloween parade was held yearly, with the exception of 1949, which was canceled because of a polio epidemic. In many of the parades, the St. Matthew’s all-girls band, which was sponsored by St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Parish in Conshohocken, participated in the parade. During some years, the parades ended at Washington Fire Company on West Elm Street with an outdoor dance and party.
Below are pictures of the various parade participants and winners from 1947 through 1958.
Conshohocken Halloween Parade, 1947, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 4, 1947
Conshohocken Halloween Parade, 1948, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 2, 1948.
Conshohocken Halloween Parade 1950 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 2, 1950
Conshohocken Halloween Parade 1950 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 2, 1950
Conshohocken Halloween Parade 1951 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 1, 1951
Conshohocken Halloween Parade 1956 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 8, 1956
Conshohocken Halloween Parade 1958 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 6, 1958
Although unclear from The Recorder, the large town-centered Halloween parade continued until sometime in the late 1950s. However, this parade was “revitalized” in the early 2000s and was sponsored by the Mayor’s Special Events Committee. The route of this revitalized parade was between the two fire stations of Conshohocken, starting with Number 2 on Harry Street between East 8th and East 9th Avenues to Washington Fire Station on West Elm Street. Today, the parade meets at the Mary Wood Parkhouse and marches around the Mary Wood Park and Fellowship House areas. Below is a picture from the Conshohocken Borough website of one of these more recent Halloween parades.
Throughout the late forties and continuing until today, other communities and community organizations have had their own smaller Halloween parades. This includes West Conshohocken, Whitemarsh Township, Hervey Walker School (later renamed Conshohocken Elementary), Ridge Pike Elementary School, and Plymouth Elementary School.
The Conshohocken Recorder published photos of some of these parades, as seen below.
Hervey S. Walker School Halloween Parade 1974, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 5, 1974
Conshohocken Elementary School Halloween Parade, 1994, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 10, 1994
However, the most fondly remembered Conshohocken Halloween tradition of folks of a certain age (i.e., senior citizens) was the Fayette Street window art contest sponsored by the Conshohocken Jaycees. This contest was started in 1948, and its purpose was to decorate the 50 Fayette Street business windows with Halloween scenes in bright, removable poster paint. After receiving approval of preliminary sketches, pupils of public and parochial schools of both Conshohocken and West Conshohocken were permitted to participate. The contest lent a colorful background to the Halloween parade and created interest from both inside and outside the community. Also starting in the 1950s and sponsored by the Conshohocken Junior Chamber of Commerce, a parallel Halloween poster contest was held for school children ages 1 through 12.
The window art contest continued through the 1940s and into the mid-1950s. It is unclear when this contest was discontinued, but I have talked to two gentlemen who won awards for their paintings in the mid-1950s. Larry Butler won an award in 1951 (Larry’s artwork is displayed in the pictures below), and Jim Campi won an award in 1956. But if truth be told, during the mid-1950s through the 1960s, Conshohocken’s downtown Fayette Street fortunes were on the wane, with many businesses either shutting down or moving to shopping centers. This shift resulted in fewer business windows to paint, and with the demise of the large Conshohocken town-supported parade, there seems to have been little interest in sponsoring a window art contest.
The Conshohocken Recorder publish photos of some of the winners of the window art contests as can be seen below.
Conshohocken Halloween Window Art Contest 1948 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 2, 1948
Conshohocken Halloween Window Art Contest 1948, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 2, 1948
Conshohocken Halloween Window Art Contest 1950 Recorder November 2, 1950
Conshohocken Halloween Window Art Contest 1951 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 1, 1951
Conshohocken Halloween Window Art Contest 1951 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 1, 1951
Conshohocken Halloween Window Art Contest 1954 from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 4, 1954
It seems that both Whitemarsh Township and Norristown also had their own versions of Conshohocken’s Halloween window art contest. Although we could not find any documentation of Norristown’s contest in the Recorder, we did find some information concerning Whitemarsh Township’s contest, which is displayed below.
Whitemarsh Halloween Window Art Contest 1953, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 2, 1953
Whitemarsh Halloween Window Art Contest 1960, from the Conshohocken Recorder, November 3, 1960