July 4, 1890 marked the 114th anniversary of American independence, and it was a busy month in the United States. On July 2, the Sherman Antitrust Act became U.S. law, prohibiting monopolistic business practices. The following day, Idaho was admitted to the Union, becoming the 43rd state. On Independence Day, the country adopted a new flag with 43 stars to mark Idaho’s statehood (which also marked the additions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as states in 1889).
Less than a week later, however, Wyoming became a U.S. state. While Wyoming’s statehood wasn’t a surprise, the 44-star flag wouldn’t be introduced until July 4, 1891, as all new designs were adopted on Independence Day.
Mendocino’s Fourth of July celebration in 1890 included a parade and large gathering at an open field known as Bank Square, today known as Heider Field. It was directly across from “Banker’s Row,” the line of large houses lining Little Lake Street. The town was decorated with flags and ribbons, with the Mendocino Beacon reporting that “Mendocino can certainly boast of being able to hoist more flags on substantial liberty poles in proportion to its size than any town in the State, if not the Union.”
Led by a brass band, the procession began at the City Hotel on Lansing Street at 10 a.m. Also in the parade were George and Martha Washington, although no report names who dressed up as the former president and first lady, a decorated wagon containing the Goddess of Liberty, and a wagon with Mendocino County pioneers. The parade ended at Bank Square.
A stage was erected on the north side of the field, where the executive committee, the group in charge of organizing the townwide event, gathered to lead the festivities. Dr. James Millikin read the Declaration of Independence to the large crowd assembled for the celebration.
Reverend M. A. Starr spoke after Dr. Millikin, followed by a band named “The Horribles,” which marched from the headlands in the west towards the crowd. They were a comedic group, met with “much merriment and uproarious laughter,” as reported by the Mendocino Beacon. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) served lunch and “temperance drinks.” The rest of the afternoon was filled with games and conversation.
A fireworks show was held at 9 p.m. at Bank Square, followed by a ball held by the Young Men’s Social Club, where young people danced until the “wee hours.”
Averee McNear is the curator at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino, Calif.