Putnam patriot., 1928-09-06
Woodstock Rally Recalls
 Other Famous Celebrations

servance. with big men from varied walks of life guests of the Bowens in Woodstock. John C. Fremont, fam ous as a candidate for the presi- deney twenty-two years before, was this time the main speaker, and thrilled the audience with his address "Liberty Eternal Az one Independ- ence Day followed another. Roseland Park was always the scene of an inn mense celebration. In 1882 the late Charles E. Searls. at the time Secre- tary of State for Connecticut. made the address of welcome. President Bartlett of Dartmouth College, Thomas L. James. postmaster gen eral, and several senators were pre- sent to speak. It is possible to gain from pictures some idea of these scenes of forty-five years ago. The speakers and other honored guests were seated on a canopied platform, the whole structure liberally deco rated with flags and bunting Bench es stretching far away from the speakers stand provided seating space for at least part of the multitude.
 Harrison at Woodstoek I Ht Bt&l HOlaOtt GtitniAlioHs II would have been the greatest of all but for rain, came in 1889, when Benjamin Harrison. president of the United States, came to Putnam, Woodstock and to Roseland Park. At Wiliimantic the Putnam welcoming delegation, composed of Lueius H. Fuller, Charles E. Searls, James W. Manning and Samuel H. Seward boarded the presidents special, and introduced him to waiting crowds at Putnam. Those were the days of ex- citement: presidents don't visit Put nam any more.
 It was an exceptionally noteworthy list of speakers that year. Besides President Harrison there were Sen ator Joseph Hawley, Associate Jus tice Samuel F. Miller of the U. s. Supreme Court, Thomas B. Reed, speaker of the House of Representa- tives, Merrill E. Gates, president of Rutgers College, and many others.
 Often Literary Program
 In 1891 Chauncey Nj. Depew and William Mckinley were the chief speakers. The Mckinley elm in Rose land Park was planted that year. Congressman Charles A. Russell gave the address of welcome annually from 1889 through 1892. Benjamin r. Tracy, secretary of the navy, and William H. Miller, attorHey-general of the United States, were the prin- cipnl speakers in 1892, while in the year following the program was of a more literary nature, with poems read by Edith NJ. Thomas, Maurice Thomp- son and Julia Ward Howe.
 There were no exercises in 1895 because of the death of Mir Bowen's son. Paul Holt Bowen, in California. Chauncey Depew, William Mckin- Hey, at that time governor of Ohio, 1 Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun, and others had accepted invitations to speak. In 1896, with the death of Mir. Bowen, ended the Fourth of July celebrations at Rose E land Park.
 Those who recall these scenes can not read them without something of thrill. They were glorious days Tor Windham county, occasions upon which the whole countryside turned out and pointed carriages toward Roseland Park. For it was the lead ing men of the land that the people were welcoming to Woodstock.
 Editors Note-We wish to ac- knowledge our indebtedness to that excellent book "The History of Wood stock Connecticut" by Clarence w. Bowen, from which much of the material for the above sketch was ob- tained).