Many articles appeared in local and area newspapers to promote the Ku Klux Klan rally that was planned for Labor Day 1925 in Harrisburg. As was later shown from the news articles describing the event after it occurred, both Lykens and Williamstown sent large contingents of their Klan members to participate in what turned out to be one of the largest Klan demonstrations in Central Pennsylvania with estimates of 25,000 to 30,000 persons attending.
This event was held concurrent with openly racist, intimidating and violent acts attributed to the Ku Klux Klan, locally, regionally and nationally, and multiple investigations that were launched into the legitimacy of the organization and the exposing of its violent nature. One week following this Harrisburg event, the Pennsylvania Klan leader who was the main speaker was arrested for embezzlement and at the same time a “ring” of American Klansmen supposedly supported by the Klan’s Imperial Wizard were arrested in Germany for attempting to start the hate group there with the aim of purging Jews from German society.
It is difficult to believe that so many in the Lykens Valley supported the Ku Klux Klan considering the access to information about what they really stood for. By finding articles describing Klan events, it is possible to identify Klan members and supporters, and by researching them and their lives, to draw some conclusions as to why they participated without questioning the legal, moral and ethical aspects of what they were doing.
Note that in one of the articles presented below, that the Harrisburg Giants baseball team would be “absent from the city” with a game at Darby. Not mentioned, was that the Harrisburg Giants were African American, or “colored” as they were then referred to, and were one of the early pioneer teams of the Negro Leagues. Naturally, they would not have wanted to be present in Harrisburg as 30,000 fanatical white supremacists invaded the city, though Harrisburg had a sizable African American population at the time.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, September 5, 1925:
HOLIDAY WILL BE FEATURED BY FAIR START AND PARADE
Klan Expects 30,000 in March; Grange Exhibit to Open Monday
Labor Day will be observed in Harrisburg with a parade of the Ku Klux Klan, the opening of the Dauphin County Grange Fair, and general vacationing by the public.
With Capitol Hill, county and city offices, banks, stores and similar centers of commerce and trade closed, and the Post Office observing holidays hours. Harrisburg will take it easy. Hundreds are departing by train and automobile for the seashore and mountains to-day for the long weekend.
The Ku Klux Klan parade, with about 30,000 Klansmen from Central Pennsylvania expected to be in the line of marching, will be the big feature in Harrisburg, with the running races at the grange fair east of Paxtang a fellow headliner. The Klan, under the direction of Grand Dragon Sam B. Rich, will hold a field meet in Island Park Monday morning at 10 o’clock, and at 3 o’clock in the afternoon the parade will move, forming in the streets between Locust and Reily streets and traveling both in Front Street in Hamilton, to Second, to Briggs to Third, to Market, and Island Park.
Twenty bands will lead the Klansmen in their march, and when the Island is reached, the Klavaliers of various units will give military drills. The parading will be in full Klan regalia, but without masks.
The Monday meetings of the Exchange Club and the Rotary Club have been postponed. At the country clubs golf tournaments will mark the day’s celebration.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, September 5, 1925:
CITY READY FOR LABOR’S HOLIDAY
Labor Day Monday, will be observed here generally and few persons, comparatively, will work.
With the prospect of cooler weather the day will probably be a real holiday before the work of the fall sets in.
The big feature of the day for those who remain in the city will be the Ku Klux Klan parade Monday afternoon. Organized labor, in whose honor the day has been set apart, will observe the day informally, at picnics of various groups of workers and in individual tours and trips to signalize the close of the vacation period.
The school youngsters, not yet hardened to their desks, will get a respite of a day, and the State, city and county offices will all be closed — with one exception — There will be a morning session of court, for Judge Charles V. Henry, of Lebanon, subbing for the three local jurists, will come here for a brief session that will keep court officials and other busy for a while.
There will be baseball at numerous diamonds, morning and afternoon, with the Harrisburg team of the New York-Pennsylvania League as the morning attraction. At the country clubs there will be tennis and the usual lineup of foursomes on the fairways and greens.
30,000 Expected
K. K. K. leaders predict a crowd of 30,000 members here for the Monday afternoon parade of the order. This will not get started until 3 o’clock and it is expected there will be at least 5000 men in line. The parade is expected to be similar in many respects to the recent turnout of the organization in Washington. The route of the parade will be several miles long, with the marchers winding up at Island Park, where there will be a program of music and an address or two.
The local police have approved the parade route. Chief of Police Joseph P. Thompson has requested that motorists do not use the streets that figure in the places of formation of the line and those to be traversed by the marchers.
Parks To Be Crowded
Paxtang, Hershey and other nearby amusement parks and resorts will draw the big crowds, and Reservoir Park will also have its quota of picnickers during the day. It is expected that the roads will be congested by autoists. As the day falls on Monday, there is a two-and-a-half day vacation for many workers. This fact will make possible runs to the Atlantic coast resorts and to cottages and beaches along the Chesapeake and Delaware bays.
The holiday will give the 400 local business, professional men and musicians who will go on the annual Chamber of Commerce Cruise plenty of time to prepare for the trip which starts Tuesday.
If the sun is sufficiently bright there will be possibly the season’s last big crowd at the municipal bathing beach. The nights are growing longer and cooler and it will not be long before the water is chilly and the bath houses are locked until next spring.
Morning Game Here
The outstanding sport event of the day is the New York-Pennsylvania League baseball game at the Uptown diamond. The Harrisburg team, returning home from a Sunday game at Elmira, will play York, Monday morning. In the afternoon, the local nine will face York on its home field. The Harrisburg Giants will be absent from the city Monday, playing at Darby.
At the steel mills and on the railroads the forces will be cut down Monday as far as possible, so that as many workers can be spared will enjoy the holiday. The freight crews of both the Pennsylvania and the Reading will be reduced for the day, but the holiday traffic on the railroads will not permit any curtailment of the passenger crews.
Many State, city and county officials are now out of the city and will not return until after Labor Day.
The capitol was virtually deserted by officials today. Attorney General George W. Woodruff being the only major official at his desk. The State workers quit at noon until Tuesday morning.
The main office and the Allison Hill, West End and Camp Curtin branches of the Post Office will be closed Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and no city or rural deliveries will be made. Persons whose mail is ordinarily delivered to them by letter carriers may obtain it on Labor Day from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the main Post Office at the window next to the parcel post section and in the Hill Station at the general delivery window, according to Postmaster Pass. He announced that the usual night collections will be made.
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From the Harrisburg Sunday Courier, September 6, 1925:
PLANS COMPLETE FOR LABOR DAY IN HARRISBURG
Picnics, Fair and Baseball Games Will Feature Day
KLAN PARADE WILL ATTRACT THOUSANDS
City and County Offices, Banks and Stores Will Be Closed
Pa and Mr. Harris and all the little Harrisburgers will enjoy a holiday tomorrow, Labor Day, in many varied ways. A number of local people will leave the city for a motor trip, others will go on picnics, attend the opening of the Dauphin County Fair, and witness the baseball game at the West End Grounds, when Harrisburg will meet its old rival, York. A Ku Klux Klan parade will feature the observance of the day in the city.
Capitol Hill, county and city officials, banks, stores and other business houses will be closed, and the local Post Office will observe holiday hours. Golf tournaments will mark the city’s celebration at the country clubs.
The Ku Klux Klan parade, with about 30,000 klansmen from Central Pennsylvania expected to be in the line of march, will be the big feature in Harrisburg, with the running races at the grange fair east of Paxtang a fellow headliner. The Klan under the direction of Grand Dragon Sam D. Rich, will hold a field meet in Island Park tomorrow morning at 10.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, September 7, 1925:
TRAINS CARRY CROWDS TO AND FROM THIS CITY
Passenger train movements in an out of Harrisburg were unusually heavy over the weekend, thousands of persons taking advantage of the extended vacation period made possible by the Labor Day holiday to make pilgrimages to other cities. A similar condition prevailed n all other divisions, it was reported at the local offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad this morning.
The exodus from the city was particularly heavy on Saturday afternoon and evening, when the majority of local travelers left the city for other places. Extra coaches were placed on nearly every train leaving this city, All trains passing through the city carried extra caches to accommodate the crowds.
The Reading Company also reported heavy passenger traffic. An excursion train to Willow Grove and Atlantic City yesterday carried 502 passengers form this city and vicinity. Another excursion train from Harrisburg to Gettysburg took 200 persons to visit the battlefields.
The passenger movement into Harrisburg was augmented by the many thousands of persons coming here to participate in and witness the demonstration of the Ku Klux Klan her today. Capacity passenger traffic was reported on all trains arriving into the city all day yesterday.
Extra coaches are being placed by the Reading Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad on all trains into this city. A special train from Nesquinoning arrived at the Reading station at 9:05 o’clock this morning, carrying about 500 members of the order. Increased traffic is also reported on regular passenger trains coming into this city.
Extra coaches will again be placed on all trains leaving the city this evening and early tomorrow morning to accommodate the Klansmen returning to their homes. The Nesquinoning special will leave the Reading Station at 1:30 o’clock tomorrow morning.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.