Week of March 12, 2003

Irish-Catholic organization Ancient Order of Hibernians started Denver parade

By Tom Quinn

The 2003 St. Patrick's Day Parade through Lodo on March 15 will parallel St. Patrick's Day Parades in Denver a century ago.

The story of Denver's St. Patrick's Day Parade began in 1879 with the chartering in Denver of a division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic organization dedicated to friendship, unity and Christian charity. Founded in the United States in 1836, the order traces its roots back much further to the 16th century with groups organized to protect the Catholic clergy in Ireland.

The parade grew rapidly in the 1880s under the leadership of the order, which succeeded in uniting Denver's Irish organizations. By 1889, the parade featured several hundred participants including the Silver State Coronet Band, Denver's two Hibernian order divisions, St. Patrick's Mutual Benevolent Society and St. Joseph's Temperance Society. Participants marched through the streets of downtown Denver to the tune of Irish and American patriotic songs. The parade concluded at the old Denver Exposition Hall for high Mass celebrated by Father Joseph P. Carrigan, pastor of St. Patrick's Church.

Celebrated as a religious holiday at that time, the Hibernian parade began or ended with Mass at one of Denver's Catholic churches such as St. Patrick's, Sacred Heart or Annunciation. This remained a central feature of the holiday.

As Hibernian order membership in Colorado grew, so did the parade. The old Hibernian Hall at 1545 Larimer St. in Lodo often served as the base for parade assembly. The parade in 1901 began near the Hibernian Hall and followed a circuitous route through downtown, concluding at Larimer and 14th streets. To the tune of, "The Wearin' o' the Green," a platoon of mounted police led the way. Then came a huge American stars and stripes flag and the Irish flag of green with a golden harp followed by the uniformed, green-plumed Hibernian Knights marching with military precision and Hibernian order divisions in full regalia, which included decorated green sashes.

The Hibernian order parade continued to grow both in size and grandeur during the first decade of the 20th century. By 1914, the parade featured two marching bands, over 2,000 marchers — including Denver's four Hibernian order divisions, each with its own color bearers — 50 carriages filled with dignitaries and members of the Ancient Order of Hibernian Ladies Auxiliary and an authentic Irish jaunting car. Other organizations participated as well, including the Knights of Columbus and Knights of St. John.

The parade declined with the passage of prohibition in Colorado in 1916 and the advent of World War I, but continued as a simple procession to Mass by the Hibernian order. The rise to political power of the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan and the upheaval of the Depression brought a temporary end to Denver's parade in the 1920s.

The dormant spirit of the parade needed only a spark. In 1962, prominent Denver resident Jim Eakins and others were celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Duffy's Shamrock in downtown Denver when Eakins suddenly produced a small Irish flag from his briefcase and led a spontaneous march around the block. The march ended with a plan to revive the parade the following year. Under the energetic leadership of Chairman Eakins, the parade returned to the streets of Denver in 1963 with over 2,000 participants from a broad spectrum of the community.

The parade experienced phenomenal growth from 1963 to 2002 and well over 150,000 spectators now attend each year. Denver's parade, which is put on by the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee, is the largest west of the Mississippi and may be the second largest in the United States behind New York City.

The Denver and Boulder divisions of the Hibernian order and the ladies auxiliary will march in the 2003 parade. This year, as a century ago, the streets of Lodo will ring with the sounds and spirit of a St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Tom Quinn is historian for the Colorado Ancient Order of Hibernians and Denver St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee.