Cotton States and International Exposition facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 1895 Atlanta, Georgia |
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United States Government Building
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| Overview | |
| BIE-class | Unrecognized exposition |
| Name | Cotton States and International Exposition |
| Visitors | 800 000 |
| Participant(s) | |
| Countries | 13 |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| City | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Venue | Piedmont Park (now) |
| Coordinates | 33°47′05″N 84°22′30″W / 33.7848009°N 84.3751073°W |
| Timeline | |
| Opening | September 18, 1895 |
| Closure | December 31, 1895 |
| Specialized expositions | |
The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The exposition was designed "to foster trade between southern states and South American nations as well as to show the products and facilities of the region to the rest of the nation and to Europe."
The Cotton States and International Exposition featured exhibits from six states, including various innovations in agriculture and technology, and exhibits about women and African Americans. President Grover Cleveland presided over the opening of the exposition remotely by flipping an electric switch from his house in Massachusetts on September 18, 1895.
The event is best remembered for the "Atlanta compromise" speech given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, promoting racial cooperation.
Background
The idea for an international exposition in Atlanta was first proposed by former mayor of Atlanta William Hemphill in November 1893. He served as the vice president and director of the exposition.
The supervising architect for the entire fair was New York architect Bradford Lee Gilbert. . He designed the Administration Building with Main Entrance and Exits, the Agricultural Building, the Auditorium, the Chime Tower and Band Stand, the Electricity Building, the Fire Building, the Machinery Hall, the Manufacturers & Liberal Arts Building, the Minerals and Forestry Building, the Negro Building, the Semi-Circular Entrance and Exit Gateway, the Transportation Building, and the United States Government Building.
The grounds were designed by Joseph Forsyth Johnson. Over $2,000,000 was spent transforming the exhibition site. Lake Clara Meer which was originally a pond but was expanded to 11.5 acres (47,000 m2) for the event. Also constructed for the fair were the Tropical gardens, now known as the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The government allocated $250,000 for the construction of a government building and many states and countries such as Argentina also had their own buildings.
The Exposition was open for 100 days, beginning on September 18, 1895 and ending December 31, 1895. It attracted nearly 800,000 visitors from the U.S. and thirteen countries and was plagued by financial issues.
Exhibits
The exposition included many exhibits in the categories of Minerals and Forestry, Agriculture, Food and Accessories, Machinery and Appliances, Horticulture, Machinery, Manufactures, Electricity, Fine Arts, Painting and Sculpture, Liberal Arts, Education and Literature.
In late September Charles Francis Jenkins demonstrated an early movie projector called the "Phantoscope." Organist and composer Fannie Morris Spencer chaired the Exposition’s music committee. John Philip Sousa composed his famous march, King Cotton, for the exposition, and dedicated it to the people of the state of Georgia.
Walter McElreath described it in his memoirs: "The railroad yards were jammed every morning with trains that brought enormous crowds. The streets were crowded all day long. Every conceivable kind of fakir bartered his wares. Dime museums flourished on every street.... Vast stucco hotels stood on Fourteenth Street... I spent a great deal of time on the streets looking at the strange crowds—American Indians, Circassians, Hindus, Japanese, and people from every corner of the globe -- who had come as professional midway entertainers or fakirs."
December 26, 1895, was Negro Day at the Expo. Famed African American quilter Harriet Powers also attended this day and met with Irvine Garland Penn, the chief of the Negro Building at the Expo.
The National League of Mineral Painters, an organization of members such as Adelaïde Alsop Robineau and Mary Chase Perry, contributed decorative objects and artwork to the New York City section. The unifying objective was to showcase the accomplishments of women throughout the South, and the country, in the areas of education, health care, and the fine and decorative arts. The many elaborate displays reflected a diversity of views spanning the mainstream social and domestic roles of Southern women, such as patriotism and the ideals of traditional motherhood to little known achievements of women counter to mainstream stereotypes. The Legion of Loyal Women display, for example, presented an arrangement of 45 dolls, each one adorned with a small shield showing the name of a state, to illustrate the American Patriotic salute. Other displays posed a challenge to the roles of women and other social conventions. The Colonial Room presented utensils and furnishings, as well as Dolly Madison's spectacles, a gun carried in the Battle of Concord, and brass medallions belonging to George Washington; the display was said to represent "the growing bond of cooperation between the North and South."
Pennsylvania's first woman American architect, Elise Mercur (1864–1947) designed the Woman's Building, a Palladian style building constructed for the purpose of displaying the accomplishments of women. The Women's Building exhibitions were curated by women from Georgia. The contents where contributed by women around the country. Women culled historical artifacts, decorative arts objects, and industrial products to compose displays in each room, including the Baltimore Room, the Lucy Cobb Room, Mary Ball Washington Tea Room, the Columbus Room, Model Library, Assembly Hall, and others, each assigned to a different state.
The Exposition in the Women's Building thus introduced new ideas to foster trade and collaboration between the southern states and Northern states, and to also show ideas, products, and facilities to the rest of the nation and to Europe. The Exhibitions presented prototypes of a hospital room, nursery, kindergarten classroom, and a model library, each one in actual working order. These functional rooms, representative of environments where women played an important roles outside the home and family, equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, features, and furnishings. The model library included an actual collection of publications by women authors from every state in the nation, and a photography exhibition of the portraits of women in every branch of literature, each appended with a verse, letter, or section of a manuscript.
About six thousand exhibits were examined and beautifully designed medals were awarded. The Awards Committee awarded a total of 1,573 medals: 634 gold medals, 444 silver medals, and 495 bronze medals.
Booker T. Washington's speech
The "Atlanta Compromise" speech was an address on the topic of race relations given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, 1895, at the exposition in Atlanta. The speech laid the foundation for the Atlanta compromise, an agreement between African-American leaders and Southern white leaders in which Southern blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education and due process of law. The speech was presented before a predominantly white audience and has been recognized as one of the most important, influential, and controversial speeches in American history.
Legacy
The Cotton States Exposition successfully showcased Atlanta as a business center and attracted investment to the city.
After the exposition, the grounds were purchased by the City of Atlanta and became Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The buildings were demolished, but the park grounds remain largely as Joseph Forsyth Johnson designed it for the exposition. However, the stone balustrades scattered around the park are the only remaining part of the enormous main building.
