“Fourth of July was the biggest celebration of the year in the Canal Zone…there was fairs and athletic events. It was an amazing day. Every little kid lived for the Fourth of July celebration…Now you couldn’t sell fireworks in the Canal Zone, but all we had to do was step over into Panama City and we could buy anything we wanted. Every little kid had loads of firecrackers and little bombs…it was something else.” – Jim DesLondes, 2011

As the United States prepares to celebrate it’s 250th birthday we wanted to take a look back at how the holiday has been commemorated over the years at the Panama Canal.

1904 – The U.S. had only just arrived to begin work on the Panama Canal project and no official events were planned that year

1905 – An outbreak of disease kept the desire and willingness to hold official festivities at bay. However, a spark of hope did brighten the day when the new water mains in Panama that had been built as part of the overall sanitation effort of the Isthmian Canal Commission were turned on for the first time on July 4th.

1906 – The first significant Fourth of July celebrations.

1908 – The first description of the July 4th activities in the Canal Record appear in 1908 (the publication began in late 1907 so did not cover that year’s events). In 1908 celebrations were held on both sides of the Isthmus, although at later times they alternated hosting year to year.

These early holidays resembled family picnics and focused on athletic events.

Some highlights of the construction era include: Greased Spar Climbing, Tug-boat Tug-of-war, Fat Man’s Race (200 lbs. or more), Aquatic Wrestling, and the Pipe Race.

Click on the image below to flip through the Cristobal 1909 Fourth of July program

In 1911 Chief Engineer Col. Goethals addressed the crowd in Cristobal. You can read the speech Goethals is giving in the photo below in a special edition of the Panama Canal Review.

Ancon went all out with decorations and events in 1912.

There were baseball games, wall scaling competitions, and more…

Click on the images below to view a series of photographs from the 1913 Fourth of July celebration in Cristobal.

1913 was an important year in the townsite Gorgona. It was the last Independence Day (July 4th) they would share before the mandatory abandonment of the town in preparation for it to be flooded by the waters of Gatun Lake. They marked the day with a banquet complete with a special guest, an extensive menu, and a group performance of songs written just for the occasion.

The copy of the program in the Panama Canal Museum Collection was a special gift from George R. (Al) and Marion Goethals.

The celebration of the Fourth of July continued to be an important event in community life.

Many of the early “construction days” events became traditional activities for decades to come.

Kiddie trains also became an iconic part of the day.

World War II resulted in a few changes to the then established routines of the Fourth of July. Blackouts limited fireworks and festivities in a number of the war years. These programs from 1939 and 1940 demonstrate that change – the 1939 program has seven pages of events and the 1940 program as two pages of events.

In 1942 the theme of the festivities was “Inter-American Unity.” Boys and Girls from Panama and the Canal Zone marched together in a large parade. That year there were no fireworks and War Savings Stamps and Merit Certificates were given instead of the usual prizes. The theme of Victory was everywhere in the 1943 decorations.

1958 celebrated the Fourth of July with 150 gallons of Free Beer and 1300 hot dogs! 48-gun salutes – one for each State in the Union – sounded off in Fort Gulick, Fort Clayton, and Fort Amador.

With the addition of Alaska to the United States one year later, flags with 49 stars were flown for the first time in 1959. The 50-star flag followed with the addition of Hawaii in 1960.

The U.S. flag as we now know it has been part of the holiday ever since.

There were custom paint jobs in 1976 and numerous activities celebrating “The Glorious Fourth,” the 200th birthday of the United States .

Which you do like more, the bicentennial train or the bicentennial mule?

1997 boasted a concert by the famous Panamanian duo Sandra Sandoval and her brother Samy as well as a massive 4 x 8′ cake baked by Susan Hensley to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Air Force.

In 1999 major festivities took place at Fort Clayton and Howard Air Force Base including the “Last Train Out.”

Happy Fourth of July 2026!

We will continue this look at Fourth of July celebrations during our fall blog post series which will focus on the adventure of Chief Aptakisic during the United States Bicentennial celebrations in 1976.

Did you sail on the Chief Aptakisic or participate in the Canal Zone Project Windjammer ’76 which helped raise the money used to refurbish the 53-foot sailing vessel?