En noviembre de 1884, Grover Cleveland fue elegido Presidente de los Estados Unidos, el primer demócrata en ser honrado de esa manera desde 1856, y su partido estaba eufórico. Las alegres celebraciones proliferaron por toda la nación, pero ninguna como la que se organizó en Madera.
La mayoría de los demócratas de la nación esperaron a que se contaran los votos antes de celebrar una fiesta de victoria. Madera, por otro lado, liderada por el demócrata por excelencia, Russel Perry Mace, ¡celebró su observancia triunfal dos meses antes de la elección!
The little burg of Madera had been born under a Republican President in 1876, and the numerous Democrats in the fledgling village had to “endure” another Republican victory in the election of that year. Likewise, in 1880, a Republican, James A. Garfield, was elected, and once more Madera was found to be out of step with a majority of the nation’s electorate. Local Democratic leaders were bitterly disappointed, especially Captain R.P. Mace.
The Captain, a Democrat of long standing, braced himself for the ‘84 election. As a member of the County Central Committee, he was not going to sit idly by and allow his new hometown to be swept into the arms of James G. Blaine, who had defeated President Chester A. Arthur for the Republican nomination. Mace decided that 1884 would most assuredly be the year of the Democrats, and he laid plans to arduously contend for his party’s candidate, Grover Cleveland.
Mace was clearly in friendly territory. Madera was overwhelmingly Democratic and all he had to do was to maintain the momentum that was already present. So confident was Mace of a Cleveland victory in November, that he decided to celebrate in Madera in September!
Aided by fellow Maderans, P. McNeil, Mark Anderson, J. M. Dunlap, and Conrad Breslin, Mace prepared the town for the pre-election victory observance. When the trainload of Fresno Democrats, who at Mace’s urging had come to join in the festivities, arrived at the depot, they found Madera ready for the occasion.
Era una “alegre multitud de damas y caballeros” la que se reunió en el andén de la estación Madera, aunque su viaje a través del río San Joaquín y las llanuras de Fresno no había sido exactamente una excursión de lujo.
The Fresnoites had chartered only one car, which could hardly have contained the 150 loyal Democrats who sought to make the trip. Some of them had “bubbled over into the caboose,” while others spilled out onto the “wheat laden platform cars.” Nevertheless, Madera’s visitors were met by “that sterling, time-tried, worthy, and honorable gentleman,” R.P. Mace, who welcomed them to the pre-election party.
A brass band escorted the Fresno Democrats across the street to the hotel where they were joined by their Madera counterparts. Mace had prepared roast turkey for the occasion toward which the crowd revealed a predictable affinity. In addition, the wine flowed freely from the bar of the hotel throughout the day and evening, and the “air was rendered fragrant by the delicate perfume of choice Havanas.”
Durante el día, demócratas de Madera y Fresno, utilizando el Mace Hotel como cuartel general, paseaban arriba y abajo por Yosemite, elogiando las virtudes de Cleveland y proclamando la inminente emancipación del gobierno republicano.
By evening time, the farmers had come into town, and the pre-election victory celebration took on a new fervor. Bonfires blazed and fireworks illumined the avenue as the crowd gathered around the front of the Yosemite Hotel to listen to Democrats extend premature congratulations to Grover Cleveland.
Harry Dixon was the main speaker. The former county clerk of Fresno County loathed the Republicans, and in this he was joined by the vast majority of Maderans, including the corpulent Captain Mace. Madera’s most prominent innkeeper shared both Dixon’s southern sentiments and his espousal of the Democratic cause.
Madera’s political prognosticators proved to be right on the money in 1884. Cleveland was elected, and the Madera Democrats had four years to enjoy the fruits of Democratic labor. For Captain Mace, however, his enthusiasm for national politics never again approached the zenith of the ‘84 election.
In the contest of 1888, Republican Benjamin Harrison unseated the President, and although Cleveland recaptured the office in 1892, he never excited his Madera supporters like he had done eight years before.
Today, as folks walk down Yosemite Avenue between D and E streets, they pass an important historical site. It has been 136 years since Madera pioneers marched up and down that very same street to hail prematurely the advent of the national transfer of power.
Now here we are, contemplating a similar political event and wondering if history will repeat itself. Will the Republicans retake the White House in 2024 as they did in 1888?