Tyrone's Gardner Guards Drum & Bugle Corps in Birmingham
My dad took these photos showing two parades from the summer of 1953. One is a parade down Pennsylvania Ave in Tyrone where he was located across from the now gone McCrory's Five and Dime store. I surmise that it must be the 4th of July parade. Pennsylvania's mercurial weather is illustrated by pouring down rain in some photos and sunshine in others. Several drum and bugle corps are represented including Tyrone's own Gardner Guards, as well as Old time cars, clowns, and military/veteran groups. You can find a current view of this vantage point from Google Street View HERE.
The second set of photos show a parade down Birmingham's Tyrone Street. I don't know the occasion for this parade, but a good guess can be inferred from the Wikipedia entry for Birmingham which states that the "Mountain Female Seminary opened in Birmingham as a boarding school for girls in 1853" and now operates as the Grier School. It would have been the 100th anniversary of the school in 1953. In addition a large portion of the parade was made up of the Grier School students. Here again the Gardner Guards are prominent. A current view of this vantage point from Google Street View can be found HERE.
Enlarge these photos and scan the crowds. Maybe you can find yourself or someone you knew.
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-Cascade Bill Mooseker
Date(s): Summer 1953. Album by Cascade Bill. 1 - 22 of 22 Total. 496 Visits.
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enlarge 160KB, 1024x705 2 09-19-23-1953-026 The parade goes on despite the rain
enlarge 169KB, 1024x705 3 09-19-23-1953-027
My dad has taken shelter under an awning as the color guard for an unknown Drum and Bugle Corp approaches. This is a good view of Pennsylvania Ave. at that time.
enlarge 176KB, 1024x712 4 09-19-23-1953-028 Tyrone Gardner Guards Color Guard
It seems as if the rain has abated somewhat as not many umbrellas are to be seen.
Note: if you enlarge the photo you can clearly read "Gardner Guards" on the flag.
enlarge 162KB, 1024x692 6 09-19-23-1953-030 Military/Veterans in the parade
enlarge 172KB, 1024x700 7 09-19-23-1953-031 One of the clowns flashes my Dad
enlarge 183KB, 1024x695 8 09-19-23-1953-032 Now the sun is shining and the crowd looks like they're having a great time.
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From the name "Rossman" on the flag, it appears that these were the Black Knights Drum and Bugle Corps from the Rossman VFW post in Lock Haven. (See this link: HERE)
enlarge 169KB, 1024x717 10 09-19-23-1953-034 Looking at the crowd across the street
enlarge 167KB, 1024x692 11 09-19-23-1953-035 Looks like an old fire engine (note the now politically incorrect blackface sported by the unit)
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An Old Time car with a bagpiper (Note the new cars then would now be Old Time Cars!)
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Waiting for the Birmingham Parade to begin. Not the Presbyterian Church at the right and compare it to the street view linked above. Also interesting to me is that the house at the left side had its siding removed to currently show an old log cabin style.
enlarge 199KB, 1024x663 14 09-19-23-1953-041 A Horse Patrol heads the Parade
enlarge 218KB, 1024x674 15 09-19-23-1953-042 Next up - the Gardner Guards
Note that these are completely different uniforms (at least the jackets) that those from the Tyrone parade. Enlarge the photo and you can see that the flag clearly shows "Howard Gardner".
enlarge 204KB, 1024x688 16 09-19-23-1953-043 More Gardner Guards
enlarge 210KB, 1024x694 17 09-19-23-1953-044 Great photo of the Gardner Guards
enlarge 209KB, 1024x679 18 09-19-23-1953-044a Another Military/Veteran group
enlarge 213KB, 1024x677 19 09-19-23-1953-045 Grier School Students
enlarge 206KB, 1024x680 20 09-19-23-1953-046 More Grier School Students
enlarge 176KB, 1024x697 21 09-19-23-1953-047 Grier School Equestrians
Note: if you rotate the Birmingham Google Street View given above, you can see that this house still exists, albeit the shutters have vanished.
enlarge 188KB, 1024x682 22 09-19-23-1953-048 The Equestrians are the end of the parade
