1889: Montgomery County rolls out the red carpet for President Harrison
The president arrived in Jenkintown and traveled up Old York Road, a procession of 1,500 carriages following behind him. All along the way, Harrison encountered "ringing church-bells and cheering throngs, the residents waved their welcome from every window and doorway."
While researching today's story about Abington Presbyterian Church's 300th anniversary, I stumbled upon the Rev. Thomas Murphy's 1889 book, "The Presbytery of the Log College," which chronicles the establishment of the Presbyterian church in early America.
It includes a lot of details about the early days of Abington, Norriton, Bensalem, and Philadelphia presbyteries, but by far my favorite excerpt comes from the appendix. There, Murphy describes, presumably from personal memory, the pomp and circumstance surrounding President Benjamin Harrison's visit to Montgomery County in 1889.
The visit was organized by Murphy and other church leaders, and largely facilitated by John Wanamaker, the famous merchant and Abington Presbyterian congregant who was at that time serving in Harrison's cabinet, as U.S. Postmaster-General.
"Montgomery County never before witnessed such an outpouring of people or such widespread enthusiasm," Murphy writes. The president arrived in Jenkintown and traveled up Old York Road through Abington to Horsham, a procession of 1,500 carriages following behind him. All along the way, Harrison encountered "ringing church-bells and cheering throngs, the residents waved their welcome from every window and doorway."
You can read the full account, without having to trek to the Harvard Theological Library, thanks to Google Books: "The Presbytery of the Log College."