The parade might be a little smaller, but the idea is the same.
This Memorial Day parade took place in Hillsdale in the early 1920s. Here, townspeople are coming off of Magnolia Avenue and marching up Cross Street in the direction of Broadway. The commemoration was called Decoration Day.
Four men, possibly borough officials, lead the procession. They are followed by a band, a baseball team and then a small horse that is decorated with feathers and pulling a cart. Behind, dozens of little girls file down the street in white dresses. The angle of the photo is probably from a second floor window.
Decoration Day came about after the Civil War to honor the war dead. In the 1920s there certainly would have been Civil War veterans still around in the area, some as young as their 70s.
However, the more recent conflict on everyone’s minds would have been World War I, then known as the Great War. America’s involvement lasted only from 1917–1918, but in that time the nation had lost more than 116,000 servicemembers.
