Despite Winchester having a fairly sizable proportion of Irish settlers, Saint Patrick's Day has generally been a low-key affair for the town. Before Celtic Fest became an annual downtown event, organized St. Patrick's Day celebrations were more informal affairs. The earliest mention I was able to find (so far) even mentioning the day in a local publication was in the Winchester Republican, March 29, 1834:
At the celebration of St. Patrick’s day, in N. York, by the society of the “Friendly Sons of St. Patrick,” Mr. Power, the comedian, was toasted as "the Irish ambassador." In reply, he delivered a neat and pertinent speech, and offered the following sentiment, which was warmly applauded: “The Shamrock—to whatever soil transplanted— and may the hearts of Ireland’s sons continue as fresh as its leaf, and the union be as indissoluble.”
As you can see, it wasn't even for a local commemoration. That took until the early 1900s, with a (perhaps anticlimactic) mention in the Winchester Times, March 11, 1903:
Sale On St. Patrick’s Day.
E. J. Spence will hold a public sale on Tuesday, March 17, at his farm, adjoining J. W. Baker’s farm, north of Winchester. Several horses, five cows, household furniture, agricultural implements, etc., will be offered for sale.
Still, the momentum was building. A few years later, the Winchester Times of 15 March 1905 noted:
St. Patrick’s Day will not come until March 17, yet the loyal Irish of Winchester and many of their friends are today wearing the “Shamrock” on their coat lapel.
A later, longer article in the Morning News-Item of March 16, 1907, sheds a little more light on what these lapel shamrocks were made from (as well as other ways to celebrate their Irish ancestry):
SONS OF OLD ERIN SHOULD ORGANIZE
Big Demonstrations Elsewhere Interest Irishmen of Winchester.
Although Winchester has no society to perpetuate the memory of St. Patrick by a demonstration, the wearing of the green is becoming general, not only among the Irish contingent, but those who are able to scrape up an acquaintance with the patriotic sons of Erin who have shamrocks and other St. Patrick day badges for distribution, are also wearing the three-leaf clover.
For more than a week past, several of the real, true and genuine sons of the Emerald Isle have been making preparations for St. Patrick’s day by presenting three-leaf clover badges done in silk and satins to their friends, while others have found much patriotic pleasure in selecting new and unique souvenir post cards on which some publisher has had engraved scenes in "dear old Erin."
The sons of Ireland have no regular organization in Winchester, but their enthusiasm on this occasion if doing honor to Erin's patron saint is no less pronounced; and some believe that by next year the Sons of Columbus [more likely the Knights of Columbus], or the Hibernians will be instituted here for the purpose of celebrating the day belonging to St. Patrick's memory. The matter of organization has been brought to the attention of some here, and when others begin to appreciate the fact that the celebration of St. Patrick's day is beciming [becoming] more popular each year, it is thought by many that the feast will be more generally observed a year or two hence than now.
Even people who do not belong to the Roman Catholic Church which honirs [honors] St. Patrick are seen among the most anxious to wear the shamrock badge. Invitations handsomely engraved and other announcements received in Winchester yesterday and last night by friends of festive sons of Erin in various parts if the United States indicate that not only the sons, but that the daughters of the Emerald Isle and their descendants have completed preparations to celebrate one of the most notable days in the Gaelic calendar, St, Patrick's day, or the Feast of St. Patrick, which this year falls upon Sunday. Each recurring 17th of March is celebrated with great fervor and enthusiasm as a tribute to the man who, over 1,500 years ago, west from Brittany to the Irish nation, where he preached the gospel and ultimately converted it to Christianity.
Per publicly available information, Winchester did not organize a Knights of Columbus chapter until 1952. The current building at 519 S. Cameron St. appears to have been placed on some vacant land beside the Elizabeth Anderson house at 521-523 S. Cameron St. after the 1947 Sanborn maps documented the area (no older house, barn, or garage was demolished for its construction), though the exterior, at least, has seen significant modification or reconstruction from the partial view captured in 1974.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians never seemed to have a Winchester chapter, though one is relatively close in Loudoun County.
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| "On the Seventeenth -- the Irishman's idea of Atlas," by Udo J. Keppler, Puck, v. 69, no. 1776 (1911 March 15), cover, courtesy of The Library of Congress. |
As a bit of extra fun, apparently Saint Patrick's Day had a reputation for heralding poor weather, if this brief note in the Winchester Times of March 22, 1905, is anything to go by:
Groundhog’s Reign Ended Yesterday.
From Friday’s Evening Star.
The six weeks of winter weather which, according to old proverb, were forecast by the groundhog’s ability to see his shadow on February 2, Candlemas Day, expired with yesterday, and, barring St. Patrick’s Day today, and the vernal eqinox [equinox], which is generally believed to bring storms about the 21st of March, there is nothing apparently indicated by ancient lore to prevent a period of sunshine and balmy breezes. Although the meteorological reputation of St Patrick is not good, records carefully kept show that he has been much maligned in this regard, as in the last 40 years the number of fair days on March 17 far outnumbered the stormy ones. Today has been a fair sample of the fair St. Patrick’s days.
If you celebrate, I hope your Saint Patrick's Day activities benefit from fair weather, instead of foul.
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