HISTORY
350th Hudson-Champlain Anniversary Celebration
1959
In 1959 the 350th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's discovery of Lake Champlain attracted visitors to dozens of fairs, festivals, parades, commemorations and pageants featuring a Champlain theme. Promoters proclaimed there was "something to see and do practically every day for an entire year." The highlight was the Champlain Canoecade, reenacting Champlain's voyage of discovery in 24 authentic birchbark canoes. Culminating the Canoecade was a staging of Champlain's battle with the Iroquois at Fort Ticonderoga.
Other reenactments included the Rogers Rangers Pageant based on the Rogers Rangers raid of St. Francis, Québec in 1759, and the Fenian Raid depicting skirmishes around the Canadian border in 1870. There were winter carnivals, science fairs, art exhibitions, motorcycle rallies, horse shows, Scottish pageants, beauty contests and speedboat regattas. An official song, the "Hudson-Champlain March," was played at virtually every major event, And the festival was covered everywhere from the Saturday Evening Post and Redbook to all the big New York City newspapers.
Photos of 1959 Celebration Items
Logo from the 1959 celebration
A page from the 1959 appointment calendar
Sign from the 1959 celebration
Front page of the Champlain Valley News
Annual meeting of the New York-Vermont Interstate Commission
Invitation to a conference hosted by the Governor of New York
A medallion featuring the official Champlain Anniversary insignia
A postcard commemorating the 1959 Champlain Anniversary
1959 350th Anniversary Report cover
(Click on the images to enlarge)