Parade Past the Brin

This photo shows the beginnings of a parade in front of the recently closed Brin Theater which dates this to about 1969.  Notice how the marquee and the Brin sign are still standing and the windowed glass for the movie posters is still evident. 

 

The parade marshal is being towed by a representation of a train sponsored by the Winnebago County chapter (or as they call it the Voiture) 751 of the La Societe des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux, an independent fraternal organization of veterans, popularly known as the Forty & Eight.  This organization was started in 1920 by American Legionnaires as a "fun and honor society."  

 

Now composed of veterans of all wars, it draws its origin from World War I when young Americans were sent to France to fight "the war to end all wars." The narrow gauge railroads of France had boxcars (voitures) that carried little more than half the capacity of American boxcars and these voitures were used to transport the men and horses to and from the fighting fronts. On the side of these little boxcars was stenciled the capacity of each, holding either forty men or eight horses, and these voitures became the trademark of the organization. It was thought that if one could laugh at the train ride from the coast of France to the trenches crowded in these little boxcars only recently vacated by eight horses, one could surely adapt to the changes in his life when he returned home.