GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Kirkwood neighborhood in Greensboro houses so much history,
“This neighborhood was going to be more like Irving Park, it was going to be grander and bigger,” Said William Hammer, a local historian and former resident.
Kirkwood’s history dates all the way back to pre-World War II.
“The city gave three builders the right to build and sell property under one condition that they only sell to veterans returning on the GI Bill... As they settled here, and then one July Fourth in 1949, four families got together and marched around the neighborhood carrying a flag and that was the beginning of the Kirkwood parade," said Hammer.
That Kirkwood 4th of July Parade has been going strong for 75 years and for one former resident, Beth Godwin Bramhall, she can say she was there from the beginning.
“I was only 6 months old so I did not know anything, all I know is what my dad was telling me about those first days and so, the way it started was that there were families in the 1700 block of Independence were of course partying on the 4th, they were veterans... He said they were just having the party and decided, well, let’s just have a parade! And so, it was up to all the future people living there to keep it going," recounted Bramhall.
And kept it going they did! For 75 years, the Kirkwood residents continued this patriotic tradition.
“I had twins! Twin boys in ’78, and we were in that parade with them in a stroller and they were like 8 months old, and it was the third generation of parade goers for our family," said Bramhall.
“For every decade, there have been residents, Kirkwoodians, that have picked up the flag and carried it and carried the torch and kept on the tradition and kept it alive in honor of those people who had established the neighborhood, started the parade, and started all the great tradition," said
And that time-honored tradition, while having evolved, is not going away anytime soon.