“An invaluable window on how New York self-consciously and very publicly transformed itself from a city that was merely ‘the largest’ to an undisputed world class metropolis . . . a rich historical record of newspapers, manuscripts, artifacts, photographs, and graphics . . . offers a new lens to examine identity, industry, and environment.”

—Kenneth T. Jackson, the Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences and Director of the Herbert H. Lehman Center for American History at Columbia University, from the Foreword

"A fore to aft accounting, deftly written, of one of New York's greatest 

public spectacles, which sailed from dead seriousness to high comedy.  Even Thomas "Fun City" Hoving could not have cooked this up." 

 —Christopher Gray, architectural historian, director of the Office for 

Metropolitan History, and "Streetscapes" columnist for The New York Times

“New Year’s Eve in Times Square, move over! Johnson’s album of amusing images and intriguing text documenting the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration shines the spotlight on a street and water carnival that lasted almost three weeks and ran over 150 miles from Manhattan to Albany and beyond. Battleships, biplanes, banners, and bygone days all played a part in the event, as New Yorkers threw themselves a big bash to celebrate the city and region’s long list of impressive accomplishments. As Johnson plumbs different aspects of New York’s most public festival, she reveals a time when progressive civic leaders believed firmly that widespread exposure to history and art could transform society as a whole. The optimism of these social engineers extended to the designed and natural environment as well, making an impact on the urban and suburban landscape that is visible in New York to this day.” 

—Kent L. Barwick, President of The Municipal Art Society of New York

“Kate Johnson treats readers to the first in-depth study of the 1909 Hudson- Fulton Celebration, providing a fascinating snapshot of New York, the newly consolidated five-borough Greater City, when its status as premier American Metropolis was not quite secure. In this engagingly written and handsomely illustrated volume, she exploits this ambitious history festival as a way to examine issues consuming New Yorkers during the Progressive Era. These include the acculturation of large numbers of recent immigrants, the strengthening of New York’s cultural institutions, and the application of new technologies to make this huge, expanding urban center function more efficiently. Indeed, during the Celebration, which played out across the city and up and down the Hudson River, its organizers highlighted the present as much as the past – and self-consciously looked to the future – in their attempt to promote New York as a world-class city. By accommodating the millions of spectators who flocked to the festivities, municipal authorities also proved that the mass transit, electric power and light, public safety, sanitation, and other systems underpinning the city were strong and resilient. This tribute to advancements in transportation featured vessels ranging from canoes to warships, from sailboats to biplanes. Those who love the history of transportation and technology will be particularly captivated by the stories Johnson weaves of exciting electrical illuminations, airplane flying demonstrations, parades in the city streets and on the river that thrilled New Yorkers and out-of-town tourists in the autumn of 1909.” 

 —Charles L. Sachs, Senior Curator, New York Transit Museum 

"The Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 represented the efforts of elite New Yorkers to celebrate their city’s status as a modern metropolis yet also to claim its importance in the history of colony and nation.  Using parades and pageants, exhibitions of paintings and decorative arts, and civic festivals extending from New York City to Cohoes, the celebration attempted to promote awareness of history in part as a way of assimilating immigrants to American society and culture.  Kate Johnson’s Hudson-Fulton Celebration provides an illuminating analysis of the world these elite New Yorkers created in 1909, and uses the Janus-faced celebration both to measure New York’s progress since settlement and to look forward to an even brighter future. Carefully researched, thoughtfully written, and richly illustrated, The Hudson-Fulton Celebration is a delight to read.”

 —David Schuyler, Shadek Professor of the Humanities and American Studies at Franklin & Marshall College, author of Apostle of Taste: Andrew Jackson Downing 1815-1852 and The New Urban Landscape: The Redefinition of the City Form in Nineteenth-Century America

“This is a wonderful book for just about anyone interested in the history and culture of New York City and the Hudson River Valley. Congratulations to Historic Hudson Valley and Fordham University Press for choosing to publish on the topic of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, just in time for its centennial. This text is not just about a particular time and place, however, but expands the dialogue between past and present by exploring timely topics such as the role of changing technology in municipal life, the way the educational system was used to assimilate new immigrants, and how political and economic purposes can underlay big and complicated public events. And the visual interest of such events is not short changed. A wealth of interesting commemorative materials associated with the event is illustrated by the author, who carefully describes and deconstructs them for readers who might otherwise enjoy the illustrations without examining the content. No one person and no objects associated with the Hudson-Fulton Celebration is safe from this author’s probing intellect. She dissects every moment and trifle with a historian’s steady hand, explaining the origins of the many decisions that went into developing and playing out this mammoth municipal pageant.”

 —Ellen Denker, consulting curator for the New-York Historical Society, National Park Service, New York Transit Museum, and other historical organizations