The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-06-24
Thousands of Kenosha Peo-
pie See Opening of "Great
White Way" on Tuesday.
STREETS ABLAzE WITH LIGHT
Mayor and Former Mayor Speak and
Crowds Cheer, as Current is Turned
Into New Lights-Crowd Furnishes
Hard Job for Traffic Cops.

The man who was whistling cit
Looks to me like a Big Night To-
night ON Tuesday morning was a real
prophet for Tuesday night was the
biggest night known so far in the his
| tory of Kenosha. Never was there
such crowd on the streets of Kenosha.
They thronged, packed and jammed
the streets so that the most efficient
| traction squad of the police depart
ment could do little to keep traffic
moving at certain places along the
streets. How many people were thereg
Make your own guess. Some people put
it at five thousand and others who were
real enthusiasts claimed that the entire
thirty thousand people of the city were
on the streets during the evening They
came in from the country in automo
| bile loads, they came from Racine in a
regular procession and "Mine Own
| People, turned out from the north
side, the south side and the west side
Chief Of Police O'Hare and every mem
Der Of the police force were on duty to
handle the crowd and it was wonderful
work done by the little handful of
police officers. They could not, how
ever, stem the crowds on Main street
when the excellent open air perfor
mances were put on by the flying Val
entinos. No one could have kept the
crowd back and the police officers gave
their attention to preventing people be
ing crushed in the mobs about the plat
/ forms. Street car and automobile
traffic was held up for half an hour at
time while the crowd watched the free
shows.
Put it down in your diary as "some
night
| It was down on the program as the
opening night of the Home Coming and
it was featured with the opening Of
g KenosAa's Great White Way The
new decorative lights for which the
business men of the city had been fight
ing for more than five years were turn
| ed on for the first time and the streets
on which they had been set up simply
blazed with light These streets can
rest assured that there are no better
| lighted streets in the country. There
was considerable of ceremonial in
connection with the turning on Of the
| lights. It was held at the corner of
Main and Market Square and was I'M
der the direction of Dan 0. Heard, for
mer mayor and chairman of the Home
| Coming committee. In opening the
ceremonies of the evening Chairman
Head gave welcome to the Home
Coming hosts and told in part the
story of how the new lights had been
secured. He introduced the mayor who
gave the formal welcome of the city
to the visiting people and presented to
the chairman of the committee great
golden key more than four feet in
length all bedecked with ribbons. The
mayor in his address spoke of the work
| that had been done in securing the in
stallation of the lights paying an espec-
| ial compliment to the Wisconsin Gas
and Electric Company for the effort the
officials and workmen of this company
| had put forward to secure the installa-
| ton of the new lights in time for the
! opening Of the home coming fete.
At the conclusion of his address the
mayor waved a handkerchief and an
electrician turned the switch which
converted the streets from darkness
into light.
There were cheers galore as the blaze
of light appeared on the streets and
later many comments of a favorable
nature were heard on the new lights.
The installation of the new lights has
been one of the big progressive move
ments Of Kenosha. More than three
years ago the movement was inaugur-
ated at big banquet of the Kenosha
Retailer S Association held at the
Hotel Kenosha Former Alderman w.
| T. Marlatt of the Second War had the
pleasure of presenting to the Retailers
| the first plan for the installation of the
lights and it was met with an enthus-
iastic reception. The council named a
special lighting committee headed by
Charles Fl. Goodman. Mr. Goodman has
been the real moving spirit in the fight
for the lights and he kept eternally at
it until he was rewarded with the
brilliant illumination of the streets on
Tuesday night. There were many OBJ
stacles for the committee to surmount.
In the first place the council was found
to have no power to levy tax for the
lights. City Attorney John G. Slater
Leaned into the midst OF the fight and