The first honoree ever was a woman: Lady Liberty.
She got a parade on her unveiling in 1886. She was too dignified to squeeze into a carriage and ride down Broadway, waving her torch, so she waited in the harbor for President Grover Cleveland to come to her.
New York had thrown parades before, mostly for military men like George Washington, modeling them on Roman triumphs with flowers strewn in the path of conquering generals. But not on this foggy May day in 1886. Happy capitalists in skyscrapers near Wall Street tossed not rose petals from their windows but the most American thing imaginable: reams of stock quotes. They called it, ticker tape.
President Cleveland was impressed at all the patriotic passion for a non-military symbol. He marveled in his speech at the thousands who’d come out to honor "not a warlike god but our own peaceful deity keeping watch before the open gates of America."
We then immediately reverted to focusing on military figures: Admirals, field marshals, even the chief of staff of the Italian Army — they all got ticker tape parades. Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt was honored at one in 1910, although it wasn't for driving Spain from Cuba. It was for returning from an African safari.
Standards were not always high.
Over time, the definition of "hero" expanded to include foreign dignitaries, endurance swimmers and aviators. So many aviators. And in 1931, the city threw a celebration for French leader Henri Phillipe Petain, whose reputation has not aged well, as happens when you collaborate with a Nazi occupation.
From 1945 to 1965, the city binged on 130 ticker-tape parades. (One week saw three.) My favorite was for the guys who brought French tapestries by ship and truck to the Metropolitan Museum. Art movers — they threw a parade for art movers.
In 1969, after welcoming the Apollo 11 astronauts back from the moon, New York started calming down about pulling out all the stops and locking up the downtown business district. These days, the "Canyon of Heroes" is mostly reserved for local teams that win championships: The Giants and Yankees, the Rangers and Mets. Occasionally the pope, or Nelson Mandela, will squeak in.
The first female sports team to be driven through Lower Manhattan in a storm of glory — and now, confetti — was the U.S. women's soccer squad that won the 2015 World Cup. On Wednesday, just as wonderfully, comes the second.