Out of the Archive is a weekly blog highlighting items in the collections of the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives.
Pass me the Apple Hat: Apple Blossom Photo Album, 1925
Clarke T. Cooper Sr. Family Collection, 1806 THL
April 23, 2025: The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival is upon us. The region has celebrated the festival for over 100 years. Since the festival is a large part of our community’s history, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives collects items relating to the event. A recent acquisition to the archives was an album containing photographs from one of the earliest Apple Blossom festivals (see below for a selection of scans from the album).
The album contains almost fifty photographs taken one hundred years ago at the Second Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in 1925, compliments of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. The company served the Shenandoah Valley through the Harpers Ferry gateway. They created numerous floats and banners for the event that were carried by school children and employees from Brunswick, Maryland.
Found within the photo album are members of the B&O Company, as well as local citizens and families. Photographs feature the leaders of the festival including W.A. “Dad” Ryan and William Ewing Cooper.
“Dad” Ryan (1863-1928) was the manager of the Winchester Gas Company. At a meeting held in April of 1924, he was named the Director General of the festival. Ryan was able to organize the first Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in three weeks. As such, he is known as the “Father of the Apple Blossom Festival.”
William Cooper (1876-1957) was a merchant in the city and a member of numerous fraternal orders and civic organizations. He was also president of the Chamber of Commerce and a director for the Farmers and Merchants National Bank. For the early years of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, Cooper served as president of the festival.
So, let's look back one hundred years to see how the community celebrated Apple Blossom season.
Following the festivities, the apple on the Elks' float was installed on the front lawn of the Elks Lodge (present-day Kimberly's, across from Handley Library). The apple was made of plaster of paris on metal lath. When the apple was destroyed by the weather, the Elks replaced it with a cement version.
