April 20, 2026
Introduction: In this article – in honor of today’s Patriots’ Day celebration – Melissa Davenport Berry shows photos of parades and celebrations from the past. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I look back on past Patriots’ Day celebrations in Massachusetts preserved in special collections and GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.
Patriots’ Day is an official state holiday in Massachusetts (and celebrated in seven other states) commemorating the first battle of the American Revolution on 19 April 1775 in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, and the “Shot Heard Round the World.”
In this photo collage we see reenactors of the Revolutionary War’s first battle. The initial, tense confrontation occurred at Lexington Green, but the phrase “the shot heard round the world” is most closely associated with the skirmish at the Old North Bridge in Concord.
1900: Spectators Enjoying the Patriots’ Day Parade in Arlington, Massachusetts
This photograph was taken outside the Ephraim Cutter House in Arlington, Massachusetts.
1900: Lexington Minuteman Statue Unveiled
That same day, on 19 April 1900, Lexington, Massachusetts, unveiled the statue of the Minuteman for the 125th year celebration of the battle. The figure was originally intended to depict the typical minuteman; however, it depicts Captain John Parker, who led the Lexington militia on 19 April 1775 during the Battle of Lexington.
Before the battle, Parker told his men: “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
Here is a snippet from a news clip noting the occasion.
This article reports:
The statue of Capt. Parker, who commanded the minute men at the battle of Lexington, to be unveiled here on Patriots’ Day, is a splendid figure, and stands at the top of a fountain in one corner of the common where the battle was fought.
It is the work of H. H. Kitson, and is erected through the beneficence of the late Francis Hayes of Lexington, who at his death a few years ago, made a bequest for a fountain. This forms the pedestal of the statue and is a heap of boulders, which give it a rustic appearance in keeping with the time.
…The subject of the statue was the grandfather of Rev. Theodore Parker, and the expression and whole attitude of the man reproduces the family characteristics of courage and determination.
1917: A Modern Day Gal Impersonates Paul Revere in New York City
Here is a news clip covering the scene.
This article reports:
“The Minute Men of 1917” were called to arms by the clanging of church bells and the ride of a modern Paul Revere through the streets of Manhattan at midnight as the 142nd anniversary of the battle of Lexington began.
Miss Jean Earl Moehle, garbed as was the hero [Paul Revere] of the famous ride of the Revolution, enacted the role of Revere. As she galloped through Fifth Avenue and the “wite light” district of Broadway she was followed by trumpeters in automobiles. The symbolical warning she sounded was the first set in the celebration here of “Wake Up America Day,” planned to call recruits for the army and navy to the colors of the United States.
1925: Patriots’ Day Parade in Concord, Massachusetts
Here is a photo from the Patriots’ Day parade in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1925. In this photo we see (from left to right): A. S. Loden; Arthur D. Blanchard; George H. Reed; W. A. Flint; and D. F. Newton.
1930: Patriots’ Day, Saint James’ Episcopal Brigade of Cadets, New Bedford, Massachusetts
In this photo of cadets we see (front row, seated from left to right): Walter Smethhurst; Ralph H. Crocker; Andrew Macy; and Harold Whitley; (standing first row, from left to right): George Hollingworth; Dunkerly; Walter Geary; …..; Ernest Geary; …..; James Lewis; …..; Williamson; George Ramsden; and Thomas Pomfret; (standing second row, from left to right): John Granger; Mark Knowlton; James Parkinson; Carlton Phillips; Charles Chadwick; James Olcutt; …..; …..; …..; Harry Riding; and Milton T. Weaver; (standing third row, left to right): …..; Albert Woodacre; John Whalley; Herbert Macy; Richard March; …..; John Woodacre; and Evan S. Crocker; (standing in the background): the Reverend H. E. Robbins, rector.
1950: Patriots’ Day Parade in Arlington, Massachusetts
1970: Never Too Young to Honor the Brave Patriots
Here are three young bucks participating in the Patriots’ Day parade in Lexington, Massachusetts, ready to march as their ancestors did on that memorable April day in 1775.
1974: “One if by Land, Two if by Sea”
In 1974 nine-year-old Joseph Warren Reynolds, of Concord, the great-great-great-great-grandson of Paul Revere, began the celebration of Patriots’ Day in Boston.
The photo caption reads:
Joseph Warren Reynolds, 9, of Concord, Mass., reenacted history Monday as he climbed the steps of Old North Church in Boston with two lanterns, symbolizing those hung in the church’s steeple to proclaim the arrival of British war troops at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Reynolds, the great-great-great-great-grandson of Paul Revere, recalled the ride his famous ancestor made warning colonists, “The British are coming,” after he received the lanterns’ message, “One if by land, and two if by sea.”
1974: Patriots’ Day Parade in Lexington, Massachusetts
That same year the Patriots’ Day Parade in Lexington featured Richard Michelson, one of the founders of the Lexington Bicentennial Corporation, a private organization to raise money to fund the events to commemorate the bicentennial of the Battle of Lexington, pictured below driving a hand-made float representing a huge replica of the minted commemorative coin.
Michelson is sporting a “White Tricorne Hat,” a prestigious award presented annually on Patriots’ Day by the Lexington Lions Club to a citizen who demonstrates exceptional volunteerism and community service.
The Lexington Bicentennial Corporation minted commemorative coins for sale. On one side is Paul Revere, and on the other side is a minuteman (and the official seal of the town of Lexington) commemorating the minutemen who fought in the opening battle on Lexington Green, 19 April 1775.
Happy Patriots’ Day, everyone!
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Note on the header image: Lexington minute men start off the 2025 Patriots’ Day parade in Lexington, Massachusetts. Credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel; Wikimedia Commons.
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