A Band with Hats — and No Hats.

 Hats on.

 Hats off.

Hats on.

Hats off.

These two postcard photos of a band with and without their hats are unmarked. They would be otherwise unknown except that the dealer from whom I acquired these postcards had other photos which identified the group as the Perrydale Concert Band of Polk County, Oregon. Regrettably I failed to buy those but I did at least save the information. They are a full band of 26 musicians arranged standing and seated around their bandleader in the center. It's a mix of mainly brass instruments: tubas, baritones, trombones, mellophones, and nine cornets, along with a few clarinets and a pair of drummers. Their ages range from young teens to mid 30s I think.

 

Hats always present a problem for photographers, especially when taking group photos outdoors where bright sunlight makes bareheaded people squint. If hats are worn the brims may shade eyes but it also puts faces in shadow. What to do with a uniformed band? Take two photos! One with hats and one without!

Perrydale, OR is about 50 miles southwest of Portland, Oregon and 15 miles northwest of Salem, the capital of Oregon. It's part of a rural farming community in the Willamette Valley, and today it is little more than a country crossroads. But surprisingly it once had a band worthy of notice in the county newspaper.

Polk County OR Observer
09 May 1911

The band was started in February 1911 by J. P. Caldwell, also known as Julius Perry Caldwell, or just Perry Caldwell. Born in 1876, J. P. Caldwell was the son of an Oregon farmer laborer and in 1910 he had been working as a salesman in Portland. When his mother died in December 1910, Caldwell and his wife Janet and daughter Dorothy moved to Perrydale where his parents resided to be with his bereaved father. Evidently J. P. grew up in a musical household as in the 1900 Census, when he was still living with his parents, his older brother's occupation was Music Teacher. In 1911 in addition to the Perrydale Concert Band, J. P. also directed his church choir and appearing as both a vocal and cornet soloist. And according to the first program of the band as published in the Polk County Observer in May 1911, Mrs. J. P. Caldwell also played cornet when featured in a duet with her husband. Tickets for the concert were to help raise funds for new uniforms for the band.

In July 1912 the Perrydale Band played at the national convention in Portland of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which got the band a few column inches in the Portland newspaper.

Portland Oregon Daily Journal
12 July 1912

The Perrydale Band had 35 musicians under the leadership of J. P. Caldwell and they were one of the first bands on Portland's streets that morning and dispensed all sorts of music, both classical and semi-classical, and lots of ragtime.

In their neat blue uniforms streaked with white braid they made a very good showing and attracted much favorable comment as they marched through the streets. The uniforms of the Perrydale contigent were formerly those of The Journal Carriers' association. (newspaper carriers of the Oregon Daily Journal) The band proper has nly been organized since last October, although several of the members had played in various organizations prior to that time.

"It's just a little country town band," said Director Caldwell this morning, in speaking of his organization, "but I believe that we have demonstrated what we can do. Our band has done a lot to advertise Perrydale."

Perrydale is about 56 miles from Portland in Polk county and has a population of 200.


The Perrydale Band also managed to get its picture in the Portland newspaper, albeit mislabeled in the caption. In a double photo feature on the music at the Elk's convention they are the band at the bottom, not the top. Even in the dark scan we can recognize the fancy trimmed uniforms and the name Perrydale written on the bass drum head.

Portland Oregon Daily Journal
14 July 1912

The band returned to Portland in the summer of 1915 to participate in the city's big Rose Festival. The event offered parades and concerts by dozens of bands from around the Pacific northwest. Again Perrydale merited a few column inches in the Portland Daily Journal, and a mistaken initial in J. P. Caldwell's name.

Portland Oregon Daily Journal
06 June 1915

The farmer boys who made up the band were not all from Perrydale. Like many rural communities, bandsmen often played in several groups and the Perrydale Concert Band  had musicians from other nearby villages and towns. A band was a social club not unlike the fraternal societies, but the real draw probably came from the magnetism of the band leader, Julius Perry Caldwell. Typical of this era, he was a multi-faceted musician who could sing and play several instruments. But it's very unlikely that this skill came from any formal training at a music school.

The Perrydale Band played concerts for its community, mostly spring and summertime picnics and fairs, perhaps a few church social events in the fall and winter. The music provided a kind of boosterism for Perrydale, but it was mostly done for pride of the place rather than for any local business promotion. Sadly when Caldwell left Perrydale in around 1916 the band's name evaporated from the region's newspapers. So I think the Perrydale Band's two photos were taken sometime between 1912 and 1915, with the earlier year more likely. What better occasion to make a photograph then when you have new uniforms?

In 1917 J. P. Caldwell left Perrydale for La Grande, Oregon, about 320 miles east of the Willamette Valley, where he took employment as a machinist in a railroad shop. It wasn't long before Perry Caldwell's name showed up in the La Grande newspaper playing in the town band, singing in church concerts, and eventually organizing his own band. By curious coincidence, on at least one concert he played French horn – my instrument. In 1929 he was appointed the building superintendent, i.e. janitor, at the Eastern Oregon Normal School, a new teachers training college. Over the next 15 years he organized a band for student concerts and pep rallies for the school's athletic games.

Salem OR Statesman
06 September 1945

In September 1945, Julius Perry Caldwell, passed away in La Grande. The Salem newspaper ran a notice on his death, reporting, incorrectly I believe, that he had died in Seattle, WA. What is fascinating is that the reason the paper considered his death worthy of attention was Caldwell's brief history leading the Perrydale Band. It seems the memory of his music making and mentorship lasted 30 years after the photos of his band. Perhaps that's the reason these photos were preserved for me to find 100 years later.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where a gentleman always tips his hat to the ladies.