Clarke Historical Museum
  • Home
    • Land Acknowledgement
    • Work at the Clarke!
    • About the Clarke >
      • Staff & Board
    • How to find us
  • Exhibits
    • Native Plant Garden
    • Main Hall >
      • Maritime History
      • Emmerson Room >
        • The Carolyn Burns Foundation
      • Clarke Bird Collection
      • Clarke Gem & Mineral Collection
    • Nealis Hall >
      • About Nealis Hall
      • History of Nealis Hall
      • Hover Collection
      • Ecological Management
      • Nellie McGraw
      • Becker Memorial Collection
      • Past Mini-Exhibits
    • Community Case
    • Opera Alley >
      • Past Opera Alley Exhibits
    • WWII Memorial Exhibit at the Humboldt County Airport
    • Virtual Tours
    • Online Exhibits >
      • Immigration, Expulsion, Homecoming
    • Exhibit Archive >
      • Notable Women of Humboldt County
      • Bigfoot Quilt Raffle
  • Events
  • Support
    • Admission
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Donations & Fundraisers
    • Sponsorships
    • Internships
  • Blog
  • Education
    • Bookstore
    • TikTok Videos
    • Teacher Resources
    • Additional Resources
    • Research >
      • Humboldt History
      • Local History Links
  • NCMA
  • Tours
    • Chinatown Walking Tours
    • School Tours >
      • Donate & Schedule Your Tour
  • Non-clickable Page

Artifact Spotlight: Congregational Cadet Corps Banner

3/25/2018

0 Comments

 
A few months ago, the museum received an incredible banner to add to the collection from a collector in Portland, OR. With a bit of research, it turned out that this banner had an even more amazing tale to tell, one that connected Portland and Eureka back in the early 1900s.
Picture

What was the Congregational Cadet Corps?

The Congregational Cadet Corps was a boy's group affiliated with the Congregational Church, a reformed Protestant church located in Eureka. At one point in time, as noted in the photo below c. 1900, the group had 121 members. The group was led by Reverend Franklin Baker who was assisted by C.P White. An additional leader included a man known as Mr. Emery who was an officer in the Spanish-American War.
Picture
Photo of the Congregational Cadet Corps courtesy of local clothier C.V Jackson. c. 1900. Cat #: 2018.002.001

What was the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition?

The year 1905 happened to be the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which had passed through the area that would later become Portland. In celebration, the City of Portland hosted an Exposition, which, as mentioned in this post a few weeks ago, would typically be held to promote tourism to an area for an extended period of time.
In the spirit of expeditions and explorations, the Congregational Cadet Corps of Eureka decided to take a trip up to Portland. At this point in time, however, there were only trails and incredibly rough roads connecting the two towns. The boys and their leaders decided to hike their way over 510 miles of rugged, mountainous terrain to Portland. Nearly 70 boys went on this month-long journey, with the oldest being 18 years old and the youngest being 10 years old. They averaged 20 miles a day with the longest day was 36 miles. Along the way, the boys would perform circus-esque shows to raise money and, upon reaching the fair, performed a show for 22,000 spectators. They were allowed to camp on site at the fair and returned to Humboldt County via steam ship.
Picture
Poster from the Exposition, from the Oregon Encyclopedia
While at the Exposition, the President of the Exposition awarded the Congregational Cadet Corps with the banner that has now made its way back to Humboldt County, 103 years later. The youngest member of the group, Earl Hodgeson, wrote an article for  the Humboldt Historian in 1977, which you can read below:
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About

    Keep up with the Clarke through our Blog!
    Posts are sent out once a month with our monthly newsletter, but they post here throughout the month so check back each week for something new!

    ​Posts created by Katie Buesch, Interim Director-Curator unless otherwise noted.

      Subscribe to our newsletter!

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    October 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

Clarke Historical Museum
240 E Street
​Eureka, California 95501
admin@clarkemuseum.org
(707) 443-1947
Open Tuesday-Sunday
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Monday

​Open until 8:30 p.m. during Friday Night Markets
Open until 9 p.m. during Eureka Arts Alive
Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved.