1907Gloucester Day Celebration was held on August 15, 1907.Events & Anniversaries, Celebrations & Anniversaries
On August 15, 1907, the citizens of Gloucester celebrated with a day-long celebration and the unveiling of the bronze plaque in Stage Fort Park on Tablet Rock to commemorate the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Beginning at midnight, an estimated 10,000 citizens gathered to kick off the festivities with a bonfire. Cannons were shot and bells rang at sunrise to rouse citizens for the anticipated parade. After a buffet lunch, speeches were made by city officials before the tablet was finally unveiled by “Little Miss. [Natalie] Hammond”. Songs and poems written to the city were performed and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge gave a well-received speech.
Artist Eric Pape (1870-1938) designed a memorial bronze plaque, which was 10′ by 6′ and embedded in a great boulder.
Gloucester Daily Times. “The Tablet: Magnificent Bronze Memorial Masterpiece of Art.” August 15, 1907, Vol. 39 No. 5696 edition. https://sawyer.advantage-preservation.com/. Gloucester (Mass.) Tercentenary Committee, and James Pringle R. The Book of the Three Hundredth Anniversary Observance of the Foundation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Cape Ann in 1623 and the Fiftieth Year of the Incorporation of Gloucester as a City. Publication Board of the Three hundredth anniversary executive committee, 1924.