It was an ordinary day. Cool, with a few drops of rain falling. Not a great day for a picnic. As a child I remember many a fun time while picnicking at Long's Park in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At the time (late 1940's to early 50's) Long's Park was our "Commons" area, the place to go to have fun. Huge park with plenty of room for sports, a pond for fishing and a few big sliding boards. Long's Park was a great place for all to have fun and a picnic lunch. Another nearby town, Columbia, also had a "Commons" area along the Susquehanna River. Great place for boating as well as games and a meal. Years ago, Boston, Massachusetts had the oldest park, or "Commons" area in the nation. Many other New England towns also had "Commons" areas that were owned by the public. Lancaster actually had a "Commons" area that was an open field opposite the Locomotive Works in Lancaster's Northeastern Ward. In the Lancaster Daily Evening Express of April 27, 1870, it was said that Lancaster's "Commons" area operated from the early 1860's through the 1880's. It was primarily a place where Lancaster residents gathered to view a variety of entertainment - from a turkey shoot in November, 1869 to Forepaugh's Menagerie and Circus in October of 1870. A few years later houses began to be built on the fields where the "Commons" area was located. It wasn't until the mid-1880's that the "Commons" was closed.
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Lancaster's Commons
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One of the largest events ever held at the site was in the late April 1870 celebration of the ratification of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, the amendment that enfranchised Black men. Congress had ratified the 15th Amendment that February. Two months later about 300 Black residents of Lancaster held a mass parade from Bethel AME Church, on East Strawberry Street, to the "Commons". Several thousand residents, mostly white, met them there to celebrate. The parade featured bands, riders on horseback and a wagon in which 20 Black girls dressed in white and waving miniature flags. Mr. E. H. Rauch. local clerk of courts, a newspaper publisher and Civil War veteran, gave a speech at the "Commons" and told of his involvement in the Underground Railroad. It was the first time he acknowledged that he had been a white spy for U.S. Rep. Thaddeus Stevens in the 1840s and 50s. The Rev. Robert Boston, pastor of Bethel AME and organizer of the parade and celebration, talked to the crowd and said that he had also helped Rauch by spying on the slave catchers in Lancaster. This gathering was the first time that Black people had gathered for a political demonstration in Lancaster.  |
| A panorama of the area I suspect was Lancaster's Commons. |
Today I tried to find the location of the "Commons." After a few times around a series of different city streets, I believe I found an open area that maybe was the "Commons" at one time. If not the exact location, it more than likely is close to the original location of Lancaster's Commons. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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