Illegal fireworks
One hundred years ago today … It was illegal to sell or set off fireworks and firecrackers in New York City. In the buildup to the July 4 Independence Day holiday, many warned against them as a danger and a nuisance—but not everyone.
New Yorkers could travel up to the Bronx’s northern border to purchase fireworks in neighboring Mount Vernon. According to the Evening Post, “millions of young boys” were acquiring fireworks this way.
The Evening World, 3 July 1920, p. 7. Newspapers.com.
Comparing, or contrasting, the ban on fireworks to Prohibition was a popular gesture. A Brooklyn judge, Magistrate Dale—who would three years later bar the KKK from demonstrating in the borough—lamented that it was fireworks, not bootleg alcohol, that was being policed.
New York Tribune, 2 July 1920, p. 6. Newspapers.com.
Just over the city limits, in Nassau County, tragedy had struck at a fireworks factory.
New York Tribune, 28 June 1920, p. 9. Newspapers.com.
The fire insurance industry was one entity inveighing against large fireworks displays, putting the risk in terms of property damage.
The Evening World, 2 July 1920, p. 11. Newspapers.com.
The title “Sane Fourth Warning,” refers to the “Safe and Sane” movement of the early 1900s that resulted in anti-fireworks laws around the US, including New York’s.
The “Safe and Sane” idea was pervasive enough that it was used to hawk men’s shirts and “navy twill white duck trouser’s [sic].”
New York Times, 30 June 1920, p. 9. Newspapers.com.
Perhaps White & White, Inc. suspected the “Safe and Sane” language would be more effective than their bland slogan at the top of the advertisement, “Men’s shirts that fit.”
James McCreery and Co. also tried to use safety to sell clothes to boys.
Evening World, 1 July 1920, p. 5. Newspapers.com.
Somehow, the papers also carried advertisements for fireworks—or at least fireworks catalogues.
New York Times, 27 June 1920, p. 1. Newspapers.com.
“Pain’s Fireworks” was the company of the legendary Henry J. Pain, which had, up until several years earlier before this, been renown for its brilliant fireworks displays at Coney Island and Brighton Beach.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, JULY 1, 2020.
TAGS: fireworks, 4th of July, Independence Day