February 26, 2014 at 3:28 p.m.
A look back at St. Patrick's Days of yesteryear
A look back at St. Patrick's Days of yesteryear
It has been an official Christian feast day since the early 17th century and is named after Saint Patrick, the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland. Its roots in the United States go back to the late 18th century and over the years it has morphed into a day to celebrate Irish culture - for Irish and non-Irish alike.
Some things don't change. On March 17 there will be plenty of the St. Patrick's Day staples that existed more than a half century ago - green and shamrock-related decor, and the one time a year area taverns and restaurants will promote menu items like green beer and corned beef and cabbage.
But the celebration of St. Patrick's Day in Rhinelander has taken different forms over the years.
According to a 1970 Rhinelander Daily News article, practical jokes were the order of the day in the city's early years. The article recounts the tale of Mike McDermott, whose family operated the Arlington Restaurant at the corner of Brown and King streets. McDermott had a tradition of decorating the family's horse-drawn wagon in emerald green and "loyal Irishman that he was ... parading about the city streets, sometimes giving burst to Irish songs."
One year, the article says, two men - Archie Stevwright and Mark Schaefer - decided to disrupt McDermott's annual parade. They waited until he had decorated the wagon in green, then swapped out that decor with something in the orange variety - the color associated with Irish Protestants. Green is associated with Irish Catholics and thus is the color of St. Patrick's Day.
According to the article, Stevwright and Schaefer got the reaction they were looking for. McDermott decided someone in a nearby hotel was the likely culprit and "went roaring into the rear door of the hotel, his mouth and both fists lashing out at all unbelievers who bedevil the Irish on St. Patrick's Day."
Irish Protestant orange played a part in another prank recounted in the article. David Jacobson ran a general store where BMO Harris Bank is ocated. One St. Patrick's Day, his store was still adorned with signs and banners bearing the color orange for a special March sale he was holding. Across the street, at John Reardon's drug store, three men noticed this and decided to have some fun. The article tells the rest of the story:
"...since none of the three was a son of Ould Erin, they had to enlist Maurice Doyle in the plot. Doyle walked into the Jacobson store ...and in heavy Irish brogue, told him the Irish had met the night before and decided to boycott Jacobson for displaying orange streamers and banners on his store. Jacobson ran from his store and orange streamers fell like confetti on Brown Street as he yanked them down. Across the street, the jokers roared with open laughter."
In the years since, Rhinelander residents have marked St. Patrick's Day in a variety of ways from church dinners to community dances. According to a Daily News article from 1920, the Ancient Order of Hibernians hosted a St. Patrick's Day ball at the Armory that "drew its quota of merry makers from every class and religious sect in the city."
An article from 1941 says a St. Patrick's Day dinner hosted by the St. Ann's Altar Society drew in approximately 900 people.
However Rhinelander citizens have chosen to celebrate St. Patrick's Day over the years, one thing is for certain - Northwoods weather can be unpredictable in March. Two years ago, winter was well in the rear-view by the time March 17 arrived and temperatures were particularly balmy for Rhinelander's first annual St. Patrick's Day parade. For the other end of the spectrum, look at what people woke up to the morning of March 17, 1950.
"St. Patrick's Day dawned white today - not green - as a blanket of snow covered areas in the middle west and in the middle Atlantic states," the top story in the Daily News read that day. Rhinelander received three inches of snow and other areas of the Northwoods received as much as six inches.
With the way winter 2014 has shaped up so far, it appears the latter is the more likely scenario for this year's celebration of everything Irish.
Kyle Rogers may be reached at [email protected].
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