Princeton's First Bandstand

The Mirror June 13 2012 Princeton's bandstand started in the 1890s with a platform which was built on the west side of the square in front of the old Casteel-Hershberger Merchantile Store. In March, 1898, the old courthouse, which sat in the middle of the square, burned. An enterprising group of young women in Princeton, decided to clear away the rubble and build a "real bandstand." This group was called the Merry-Go-Round Girls. Some of the members were Ella (evans) Sheldon, Effa Wright, Lula (Branon) Sparks, Rose Calvert, Lue Metty, Maggie Buren, Hattie (Addison) Baumert, Carrie (Hill) Mitchell, Nell (Hill) Bryan, Mollie (Drohan) Anderson, Pearl Buser, Jessie Lane, Eva (Vanhoutan) Bigger, Carrie (Evans) Stepp, Marie (Johnson) Meek, Gladys (Girdner) Lieuallen, Hortense (Bowsher) Ward, Clarice (alley) McNeil, Snowdie (Beeson) Edwards, Pearl (McClaran) Rogers, Gertrude Ballew, Myrtle (Addison) Kelly, Ethelyn Cockrell and Nancy (Moss) McCay. They launched a campaign to raise money, in which they did fortune-telling and cranked out many gallons of homemade ice cream to raise funds. The opera house had at least two nights proceeds donated to this fund. This group held a "Sunflower Festival" on the square, in which each used her special talent to make the festival a success. All of the business firms in town gave to this fund-from paint to lumber, to volunteer help. The bandstand became the pride of the community, which was white with a green roof. The MGRs collected a total of $125 for the building of the bandstand. The head carpenter was Hiram Stanberry and his assistant was William Lane. George Dull, the band director, did most of the painting. The first concert was given by the Knights of Pythias Band. This picture has a date on the back of August 1899 and came from Ernest via Bill Horn and Diane, through Elford Horn and his daughter, Billie, and her husband, Russell Trainer. Also interesting, when Bob Lee put the picture through Photoshop, he noticed a black spot on one of the horses (lower right side), this spot turned out to be a black cat. This information on the band stand came from Volume III, page 192, of the Mercer County Pioneer Traces 1845-1997 history book.