West Chester Symphony
The West Chester Symphony Orchestra performed, "West Chester Founder's Day Bicentennial Celebration – A Tribute in History & Music," on Saturday, June 3, 2023 to celebrate our community’s 200th birthday.
This special evening of music was part of Founders Day Weekend, and the performance marked opening night of the 2023 Keehner Park Concert Series, 7211 Barret Road. Thanks to members of local veterans organizations VFW Post 7696 and American Legion Post 681 for conducting the Posting of the Colors (1:30). State Representative Jennifer Gross presented a bicentennial proclamation to West Chester Township officials at intermission (49:20) and all guests enjoyed a free ice cream social.
Susan J. Schirmer, conductor, and her talented team of musicians chose each piece of music specifically for this grand occasion. Honorary guest speakers introduced each of the songs by reading passages that were written in context of our community’s rich history and heritage beginning in 1823.
Watch the concert, below, on West Chester TV and continue after the jump to follow along with a copy of these passages. Historical information was researched and written by West Chester Symphony Orchestra members Joe Foster, Susan Hughes and Tom Hughes, and published on the pages of event programs distributed to our audience on this special night.
More than 25 years ago, West Chester Symphony Orchestra debuted on Labor Day 1997 at the grand opening of the Keehner Park Amphitheater. The symphony returns this summer for an encore performance Labor Day weekend. The Monday, Sept. 4, 2023 concert begins at 6:30 p.m.
For more Keehner Park events, visit www.WestChesterOH.org/Keehner.
Click to jump to each piece of music; song will open in a new window.
“Chester” by William Billings, arr. John Lloyd
Introduced by Trustee Lee Wong
(Starts at 4:05) The patriotic hymn-like tune Chester, composed in 1770, is not so well known today, but at the time of the American Revolution, this tune and lyrics rivaled Yankee Doodle as the Colonist’s unofficial National Anthem or favorite patriotic song. It was especially popular in New England. The composer, William Billings, appears to have had no particular place called Chester in mind in 1770. He followed conventional practice of the time in naming tunes for places, thus enabling different sets of lyrics to be sung to them. The song, Chester, seems therefore quite proper for this place and this time in West Chester, where we are not far from the grave of Revolutionary War soldier John Beckett in Brookside Cemetery on West Chester Rd.
“Yankee Doodle” arr. L.C. Harnsberger
Introduced by Trustee Ann Becker
(Starts at 7:50) Yankee Doodle: The origin of the melody of our oldest and best known early patriotic tune is unknown. The first words known to it were Dutch and the chorus ends in “Botermilk und tanther" (‘buttermilk and a tenth”), referring to the payment of Dutch farm workers in buttermilk and a tenth of the grain. So, it’s very meaningful for the early farmers of West Chester.
The version, as we have inherited it, was written by a British officer during the French and Indian War to poke fun at the Colonial troops serving with them. It was used in the early Revolutionary War by the British to ridicule American Continentals who allegedly overdressed as a “macaroni” or “dandy” pretending to be soldiers just by donning a uniform. But the Continentals became soldiers, took over the song and made it their own. And when the British surrendered to them at Saratoga in 1777, the Continental American Army proudly played Yankee Doodle.
“Prairie Song” by Carl Strommen
(Starts at 10:43) Two congressional Land Ordinances and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 opened this territory for land purchase and settlement. One of the largest and earliest was the Symmes, or Miami, Purchase and included what is now West Chester. The Treaty of Greenville in 1795 ended the wars with the indigenous tribes in the area. Immigration and settlement of primarily English, German, and Irish individuals and families came in ever increasing numbers, more than a few drawn because the Northwest Territory was closed to slavery and indentured servitude. John Gano’s great grandson, John Gano Olden, wrote that many settlers passed by cheap fertile land farther East in the original mid-Atlantic States and Kentucky partly because slavery would be prohibited in the new territories.
This land that promised in law perpetual freedom and union with the federal government was still a wilderness. It had few people, but wild animals were plentiful in the varying topography and ecology. Here were dense forests and swamps but also hills and even prairies. Did you know that Route 42 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road were originally buffalo trails?
The land’s promise and settlers’ hopes are captured in our next selection, Prairie Song, where you can imagine settlers relaxing and unwinding after land clearing, corn shuckins, and barn raisings.
“Erie Canal Jazz” by Thomas S. Allen, arr. David Bobrowitz
Introduced by Fiscal Officer Bruce Jones
(Starts at 20:28) In what is now our community, the first town was platted in 1817, 6 years before the founding of Union, now West Chester, Township in 1823. In 1824 a post office was established slightly East of the town and for unknown reasons was called Chester. In 1826 that first town, Mechanicsburgh, changed its name to West Chester. With few roads, the farmers and manufacturers had a major problem getting supplies in and their products out. It had been partly solved in upstate New York in 1819 with the Erie Canal. The portion of Miami-Erie Canal from Middletown to Cincinnati opened in 1827. Over 4 miles of it ran through SW Union Township, and Lock 38’s stone supports can still be seen along Port Union-Rialto Road. Interestingly, in the Canal’s later days, electric “mules” running on rails were used to speed the barges up. But this proved unfeasible, and the increased wash and wakes damaged the canal walls so they returned to nature’s mules.
There is a poem called Towpath about barging a load of rags to the Crescent Mill on the Miami-Erie Canal, but no song we know of. So, we give you in honor of all canals, including ours, the most famous canal song of all. Since many farmers’ products here went down the Ohio to New Orleans, enjoy our jazz rendition of The Erie Canal.
“Follow the Drinking Gourd” an African American Folk Song, arr. Carrie Gruselle
Introduced by Assistant Township Administrator Lisa Brown
(Starts at 26:20) In the 1850’s the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway largely missed most of the West Chester-Union Township area. Growing tensions between North and South led to the expansion of the “Underground Railroad” and Route 42 became a major way North for Runaway Slaves. The Seven Chimneys house on Route 42 South of Pisgah was originally a tavern and stagecoach stop. It was widely believed also to have been a stop, or “safe house” on the Underground Railroad.
Much of the movement of runaway slaves had to be at night, so keeping direction was important. That can be done if one locates the “Big Dipper” (or “Drinking Gourd”) and follows the pointers to Polaris, the Pole Star… north to freedom.
“Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Unger, arr. Calvin Custer
Introduced by Township Administrator Larry Burks
(Starts at 30:39) Though the Civil War did not reach this area it certainly affected it. The 35th Ohio Infantry was raised in Butler County and over 100 veterans are interred in West Chester Cemetery. Farmers had to give up some horses and provide grain to feed them for the war effort. And there were vacant chairs in many Ohio families for sons, brothers, and husbands who would not return. This bittersweet song was written in 1982 by Jay Ungar in the style of a Scottish lament and fits the more romantic and emotional style of that era – so much so that it was used for the main theme of Ken Burns’ PBS Series on the Civil War. The name is from a lake and village in the Catskill Mountains and probably Lenape but possibly Iroquoian. – Ashokan Farewell.
“The Great Locomotive Chase” by Robert W. Smith
Introduced by Loss Prevention Bureau Chief J. Scott Brooks, West Chester Fire Department
(Starts at 37:04) The War Between the States saw for the first-time railroads play a significant role in troop movements and supply. Union General Mitchell authorized a raid in April 1862 behind Confederate lines to try to capture a train and cut or damage the Western & Atlantic Railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The raid was led by the civilian spy James Andrews and the two dozen men he led were volunteers from the 2nd, 21st, and 33rd Ohio Infantry Regiments. They captured a confederate train, but pursuers followed them with another train and caught up with them. All were captured and several were executed as spies, but others survived. They were among the very first soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor. In their honor and recognition of the importance of railroads to West Chester, we present in music and sound effects The Great Locomotive Chase.
“Washington Post March” by John Philip Sousa
Introduced by Ohio State House Representative Jennifer Gross, District 45
(Starts at 44:00) Newspapers grew in number and importance. And the name Scripps, and later Scripps-Howard became widely known in the newspaper world. E. W. Scripps lived here in West Chester for a number of years in the 1880s, and even after moving to California for health and climate, he kept the West Chester home and always listed it as his voting residence. The “Howard” part of Scripps-Howard was Roy Howard, also from West Chester. A through railroad had come to West Chester in 1872, the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Springfield, or the Dayton Short Line. Scripps rode that train and Howard was a boy selling Scripps’ Cincinnati Post.
Newspapers were so significant that John Philip Sousa even wrote a march for one. The Washington Post wasn’t a Scripps paper but it’s the only newspaper honored by a Sousa march. So, we offer it in honor of West Chester’s famous journalist citizens, E. W. Scripps and Roy Howard.
“Hoe Down” by Aaron Copland
(Starts at 51:05) The American composer, Aaron Copland, is best known for his ability to write music that reflects the common people of America and their daily lives. Much of his own music has been said to reflect and even call forth the landscape and pioneer spirit of the country.
The West Chester area remained significantly agricultural, with many small farms, until the mid-1990s. In this selection from his ballet Rodeo, Copland weaves in a fiddle and pipe tune “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” a Scottish tune “Miss MacLeod’s Reel,” and a Scottish and Irish tune “Gilderoy.”
It’s Saturday night on West Chester’s 200th birthday weekend – let’s have a hoe-down!
“America the Beautiful” by Samuel Ward/Katherine Bates, arr. Calvin Custer
Introduced by Susan Hughes, West Chester Symphony Orchestra
(Starts at 56:34) Katherine Lee Bates began composing the lyrics for this well-known patriotic hymn on the summit of Pike’s Peak in 1893 after a train trip from New England to Colorado Springs. Almost all of us know the first verse. In commemoration of our founders, let us recall the second verse:
“O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress – a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness! America, God mend thine every flaw, and crown thy good with brotherhood, thy liberty in law.”
As we here on Founders Day celebrate and honor their past, we remember that the founders came with hope and a vision for the future, as Bates’ poem captures in her fourth and final verse: “O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years.”
We will best honor them by continuing what they started, by trying to mend America’s flaws that yet remain, by meeting the challenges we face, and by bequeathing to our own young and successor generations an “America the Beautiful.”
“Echoes from the Battlefield” arr. Darren W. Jenkins
Introduced by Joe Foster, West Chester Symphony Orchestra
(Starts at 1:01:46) The United States entered World War I in April 1917 and many Ohio young men answered the call to the Colors. The 37th “Buckeye” Division and the 83rd Ohio Division were two units made up heavily of Ohio soldiers. The bugles from that war have been silent for a century but songs from the period still echo into our time. This composition was written in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of WWI and is a medley of four songs popular then and now. The orchestra brings them to you as Echoes from the Battlefield
“Over There” by George M. Cohan “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” by Jack Judge & Harry Williams “Keep the Home Fires Burning” by Lena Guilbert-Ford & Ivor Novello “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile” by George Asaf & Felix Powell
“Beautiful Ohio” by Mary Earl, arr. Susan Schirmer
Introduced by Tom Hughes, West Chester Symphony Orchestra
(Starts at 1:09:13) The ships at sea brought most of our soldiers home just as the Ohio River had brought most of the early settlers and founders of West Chester. The Iroquois called the river ‘beautiful’ and many of the German settlers said the Ohio Valley reminded them of the Mosel Valley. The song “Beautiful Ohio” was written in 1919 as a kind of nostalgic love-memory song; it is now our State Anthem, with a new set of official words, available on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website. The revised lyrics, like the Great Seal, reflect the varied geography and activities by Ohioans.
“Voice of America” by Karl L. King
(Starts at 1:13:03) In 1796 Judge John Symmes sold Section 12 East which was then resold to various settlers. It became and stayed farmland until it was purchased by the Federal Government in 1943. For the next 50 years, in place of corn, there grew from it the tall transmitting towers of the Voice of America, sending shortwave broadcast messages of freedom around the world from the old Bethany telephone exchange. Earlier we gave you a Sousa march to honor newspapers; we now honor our very own Federal radio news broadcast operation with the “Voice of America March”
“Armed Forces Salute” arr. Bob Lowden
Introduced by Susan Schirmer, Conductor, West Chester Symphony Orchestra
(Starts at 1:17:02) A medley of the of the service songs of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Coast Guard. Each summer, the West Chester Symphony Orchestra invites veterans, servicemen and servicewomen, and their families in the audience to stand and be recognized by fellow community members when their branch’s song plays during the live performance.
“The Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Phillip Sousa, arr. Brion/Schissel
(Starts at 1:24:16) Specially conducted by audience members Hadley & Madelyn Mills, winners of the West Chester Symphony Orchestra 2023 Conductor’s Auction.