In 1893 , Katharine Bates , an English professor from Wellesley College in Massachusetts , decided to receive some of the local sight while teaching a summertime class in Colorado Springs . Little did she know that her “ mirthful expedition ” would result in one of the most patriotic song of all time — one that would continue to be popular more than a one C later .
OnJuly 22 , 1893 , Bates and some colleague climbed into wagons and headed up Pikes Peak , a mountain more than 14,000 feet tall . Though they did n’t get much time at the top — part of the party became faint in the sparse air — it was more than enough time for aspiration to chance on .
“ Our sojourn on the top remains in memory board hardly more than one ecstatic gaze , ” she laterrecalled . “ It was then and there , as I was looking out over the ocean - like expanse of fertile area spreading away so far under those sizable skies , that the opening product line of the hymn floated into my mind . "
Bates wrote the entire musical composition — a poem , not a song — afterward that eventide . “ America the Beautiful ” first appeared in print on July 4 , 1895 , in a weekly paper calledThe Congregationalist . It did n’t take long for people to realize the words would make great lyrics , and for years , they attached them to any tune with the ripe rhythm method : “ Auld Lang Syne ” was apopular fit . ( seek to sing it that agency now . It ’s incredibly unmanageable . ) As the song became more popular over the year , Bates tweaked some of the lyric .
A single tune finally prevail , borrowed from “ Materna ” by Samuel Augustus Ward . Though a contestwas heldin 1926 to produce unexampled music for the lyrics , “ Materna ” was already the pop option . No raw song was chosen , and “ America the Beautiful ” settle into the birdcall and the lyrics we know and lie with today .
Not everyone was impressed with Bates ’s study , however . In 1911,The New York Timesdeemed her " a good nonaged poet " [ PDF ] . you may decide for yourself . Here ’s the originalAmerica the Beautifulas it appeared inThe American Kitchen Magazinein 1897 :
