The Cornet Band

      "In eighteen hundred and seventy-nine

Was formed an organization fine

Of Dublin boys so young and gay, 

They played the music of that day. 

… Now still resounds through out our land

The music of the grand old Band. 

Manhood and music- intertwined

Service and fellowship combined. 

We're looking forward! Hope conquer fears;

May you live another fifty years."

-"Ode to the Dublin Cornet Band" by H.D. Eckert (1929)

      August of 1879, Charles Erwin Davis and nine fellow musicians came together to form the Dublin Cornet Band. The band played at all the community events in Dublin and, after the first year, established signature hand-made uniforms of blue wool and brass buttons. They had a twenty-two wooden wagon which they would use to travel throughout the city. The members would practice on Sunday evenings and then give a small concert after each rehearsal on the corner of Bridge and High Streets. The band was considered a boost to the town's reputation. Dublin was starting to build up an image of "rowdiness" and had some unsavory characters. However, the band was a way to bring the community together in some good-natured fun that added "some dignity and decency to Dublin."1 However, it was said there were times where the band would get a little too "spirit" after a performance and were fined a few dollars. 

      The band disbanded in the 1920s, but it was resurrected in 2010 by the city leaders of Dublin to celebrate the city's bicentennial.2

Sources:

1. Franklin, Peter D and Elaine Kehoe. Dublin's Journey (City of Dublin: Dublin, OH), 2004.

2. "Dublin Cornet Band," Dublin Community Bands website, http://dublinbands.com/bands/cornet-band/, Accessed Dec 6, 2014. 

Photo Credit: Ohio Memory Project, Dublin Historical Society Digital Collections, http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15005coll16/id/263/rec/4