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For years uninterrupted, the Irish continued to stage bigger and grander parades. More groups joined in - the police department, the Hibernian Knights, Father Dalton's Temperance Cadets, Select Knights of A.O.U.W., German Catholic societies, the Knights of St. Patrick, labor unions, city and county officials, more divisions of the AOH from Kansas City, Kansas, and other surrounding communities.
Of course, there were honorees galore. The various marshals wore swords and stovepipe hats, and sported real shamrocks sent over from Ireland. To be a marshal was a coveted assignment. To be Grand Marshal was akin to being mayor for a day. As one early report put it: "There was much wire pulling among the Irish politicians for the position of Grand Marshal." For not only was the Grand Marshal the object of much admiration from the crowd but he (the first female Grand Marshal would not be named until more than 100 years later) also had the privilege of appointing all the marshals of the different parade divisions.
For many years, the top honor went to an Irishman named Capt. Jeremiah Dowd, a celebrated veteran of the Civil War, former police chief and a man who reportedly wielded considerable clout in local politics.
"No parade was thought complete in all its appointments in the early days that did not have Capt. Jeremiah Dowd riding at the head of it in his gorgeous regalia," recalled an elderly veteran of the police force in an interview in 1921. "He was more than six feet tall and the newspaper used to refer to him as 'a fine figure of a man' and never missed commenting on the 'fine and soldierly manner' with which he managed his magnificent charger."
Captain Dowd cut a dashing swath through the streets, in his wide green sash and French military chapeau with a trademark green ostrich feather trailing from one side. Close in popularity was Owen Maney, who ran a grocery store at Independence Avenue and Holmes. He eventually succeeded Dowd as Grand Marshal.
Other early Grand Marshals included Capt. Dennis Malloy, John Granfield, P. C. Collins, Capt. Hugh MacGowan, Capt. Thomas Flahive and Edward Kelly.
In the late 1870s, the parade formed near Market Square at Fifth and Main, and wound its way to St. Patrick's church for a special Mass, before proceeding up the hill to 12th Street and over to Father Donnelly's residence, then back to Market Square for final review. Following the Grand Marshal and other dignitaries on horseback, the telltale alert of the snare drums announced the Ancient Order of Hibernians, "with plumes waving," followed by the Irish benevolent societies, brass bands, and the school children of St. Patrick's.
A regular crowd pleaser was a fireman and small-time North Side politician with a fiery disposition and a colorful personality. Andy Scanlan was the recognized "beau brummel" of the early-day fire department. In the late '70s, Scanlan strutted over the parade route sporting a red shirt faced with green satin, a belt with engraved silver buckle, a trumpet slung over his shoulder on a cord of green velvet, and a high-backed fire hat ringed with a wreath of shamrocks.
Kansas City's fire and police departments were essentially Irish organizations. In the '70s and '80s more than half the city's firefighters listed Ireland as their place of nativity. As many as two-thirds of the policemen had Irish surnames. Virtually whole departments participated in the parade while teenage watchboys manned the stations. By 1886 the parade included as many as 5,000 marchers. The Times called that parade "one of the most brilliant ever held in the city."
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