1st Fireworks Only Came In Orange: Phun Philly Phacts

PHILADELPHIA, PA — It was 249 years ago when the Continental Congress voted for Independence.

John Adams thought a celebration was in order.

Adams, who would become the nation's first vice president and second president, wrote to his wife on July 3, 1776, the day after the vote, that the occasion “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

The first fireworks to celebrate America's independence from England occurred in Boston and Philadelphia the following year on July 4, 1777.

And they only came in orange.

According to an account from the Graeme Gazette of Horsham Township, the Philadelphia festivities began with a parade of ships down the Delaware River, firing cannons 13 times for the original 13 colonies.

After an “elegant dinner’’ prepared for members of Congress, in which “each toast was followed by a discharge of artillery and small arms, and a suitable piece of music,’’ the night concluded with the ringing of bells and “a grand exhibition of fireworks," the account stated.