History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 93

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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The rooms were admirably fitted up, and furnished with the amplest facilities for the exhibition of goods. Extending through the centre of each room was a double counter or table, each side of which was an inclined plane four feet in width, for the display of goods. Ranged along the wall on either side were tables that extended quite through the room, so constructed as to adapt them to the goods sought to be exhibited. In the rear of the main building a house was erected for the special use of machinery for the manufacture of textile fabrics.

The opening day for the Exposition, Tuesday, August 3d, as well as the previous day and night, presented busy scenes in the Sinton block. Every thing was measurably arranged, however, by II A. M. of the third, when Mr. George W. Jones, chairman of the executive committee, opened to the public the doors of the "Great Exposition of Textile Fabrics for the West and South." A broad ensign, stretching across the front of the building, bore the legend, "Welcome to the Manufacturers of the West and South." Between that structure and the Burnet house a large "star spangled banner" lent interest and beauty to the scene; while the Zouave Battalion band of the city fretted the air from time to time with its melodi- ous strains of invitation. The rooms occupied by the Exposition were decorated with coats-of-arms of the States; and again, upon the rear wall of the first room, facing visitors as they came in, were the cordial words of "Welcome to the Manufacturers of the West and South." Above each exhibit of goods a neatly painted card was placed, bearing the name of the manufacturer, his mill, and its location; and the wares of each manufacturer were so grouped that no confusion or doubt could arise as to their belongings.

Theinflux of visitorsand the inspection of displays on the first day continued until 2 P. M., when the doors were closed for the day to allow the arrangement of a large quantity of goods newly arrived, and to give the officers of the Exposition an opportunity to prepare for the formal open- ing ceremonies an hour thereafter, in Pike's Music hall. The afternoon was extremely warm; but a large audience assembled, including many ladies, most of whom kept their seats patiently and happily until the end of the somewhat protracted exercises. Upon the platform were Governor (late President) Hayes, Mayor Torrence, Judge

Bellamy Storer, Hon. Job E. Stevenson, Hon. Benjamin Eggleston, and many other distinguished citizens of Cin- cinnati, Chicago, Detroit, and other cities. Mr. James, chairman of the executive committee, cordially and elo- quently welcomed the guests of the association to the city. The mayor "expressed his gratification, as the chief executive officer of the city, at seeing so large a number of the wool growers and manufacturers of the country gathered together. He believed that no finer ex- hibition of the products of the loom had ever been given in the country, and it spoke highly for the forward state of western and southern industry that this was the case. He bade all present a hearty welcome to the city." Gov- ernor Hayes was presented, and gave a genial greeting, on behalf of the people of Ohio, to the citizens present from other States. A longer address was then made by Judge Storer, which was received with frequent and rap- turous applause. - The following remarks, although not so closely germane to the occasion as some others that followed, have greater historic value, and for the pur- poses of this book we gladly reproduce them:

When I came to the west fifty-two years ago, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, and Arkansas were territories. Illinois and Indiana had but two years before been admitted to the Union; and this great, flourishing State then contained but five thousand people. I saw the first steamboat built upon the Ohio river that ever sailed from Cincin- nati. There was but one steam-engine in the city ; and that was built in Pittsburgh, and continued to be the only one until 1818. Those gen- tlemen who were pioneers in steamhoat navigation put an engine on their frail bark which was of domestic Cincinnati manufacture; and he who built it lies in an unknown grave. Permit me to name him-Wil- liam Greene. I was but young then, but I watched with great curi- osity and anxiety the process, and it was novel to me; and when it was finally on board the vessel, and she was about to depart, and the bank, then being in its native state, was lined with spectators, some predicting that she would not return, others pitying those that had embarked their means in the enterprise, I was filled with mingled emotion. But she did return; and she was but the pioneer of thousands of others that have been successfully built in our shipyards. At that time all there was of Chicago was the ruins of Fort Dearborn, and all of St. Louis one or two streets of the old French fashion, without a manufactory.

A speech bristling with statistics was made by Mr. G. B. Stebbins, secretary of the Industrial League. The several addresses of welcome received fitting response from Mr. Jesse McAllister, secretary of the Woollen Manufacturers' association of the northwest. Letters were read from the Hon. Messrs. John Sherman and George H. Pendleton, and from Governors Stevenson of Kentucky and Baker of Indiana. The hospitalities of the Young Mens' Mercantile library, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Trade, were formally ex- tended to visiting strangers and members of the associa- tion. Music from the Zouave Battalion band pleasantly varied the exercises.

Thus brilliantly was inaugurated the first great Indus- trial Exposition in Cincinnati. The display, in variety, excellence, and representative character, was all that had been hoped for; and the attendance of visitors, from near and far, contributed to make the affair an assured success. Upon the second day everything was in place and in ad- mirable order, and the visitors during the day numbered scarcely less than twenty thousand-several thousand more than could possibly have been accommodated in the aisles of the exhibition, had all been present at one

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time. About ten thousand more are believed to have visited the rooms on Thursday, the last day of the expo- sition proper ; and on the next morning, when the trade sales began, the pressure of interested humanity was so great that grave doubts were expressed concerning the ability of the third floor of the building, new and sub- stantial as the structure was, to bear up under the heavy strain put upon it. The popular interest was maintained to the end; and while the Exposition building itself was thronged, "large numbers hung about the Burnet House listening to the music of the band from the balcony, and watching the tide as it ebbed and flowed on the opposite side of the street." In attracting the attention and at- tendance of the public, at least, the fair was a very thorough success. No admittance fee was charged, and Mr. Sinton permitted the use of his building gratuitously; on the other hand, the use of the Opera House for the opening exercises, and the facilities of the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Cincinnati Gas Company during the exposition were also gratuitously tendered. The funds necessary to meet expenses and pay premi- ums (about nine thousand dollars), were made up by sub- scriptions of citizens, generally in sums of one hundred dollars, and a grant from the city treasury of three thou- sand dollars.

Not less successful, however, was the Exposition as a representative display. One hundred and fifty-five exhib- itors, from twenty different States, as widely separated as Massachusetts and Texas, Missouri and Georgia, were on hand with about three thousand lots of goods. There was also one exhibit from England. Sixty woolen mills, in ten States, were represented by their fabrics. The dis- play of flannels was the largest. A large variety of jeans was also presented-like the flannels, of superior quality in the fabrics. Between two and three hundred pieces of cassimeres, black doeskins, and meltons were shown. An invoice of cassimeres, doeskins, and tweeds, sent from the Deseret Mills, near Salt Lake City, then owned by Brigham Young, president of the Mormon church, excited much curiosity. Satinets, wool-tweeds, repellants, and knit goods appeared in considerable quantity. The woollen shawls were numerous, and attracted marked at- tention. Blankets made up a very fine exhibit. Worsted braids and ingrain carpets, from the manufactories of the city, made an attractive though not very large show. The time of year was not favorable to the exhibition of raw materials; but some excellent displays of cotton and wool were made. Heavy cotton goods, woollen and cotton yarns, and a variety of miscellaneous fabrics, were also in the catalogue, and were displayed to advantage. Several looms were shown in operation, and kept constantly thronged the room in which they were. The various committees on premiums (one on doeskins, fancy cassi- meres, meltons, repellants, beavers, and cloaking cloths; others on jeans, flannels, linseys, tweeds, and satinets; shawls, blankets, woolen yarns, machine stockings, worst- ed braids, carpets, and balmorals ; cotton fabrics ; bagging, bale rope, bagging tow, and cotton cordage; and on wool), had no little difficulty in making their awards, which, however, when announced on the fourth day of the Ex-

position, seemed to give general satisfaction. On that and the succeeding, the last day, a trade sale was had, conducted by Mr. James H. Laws, the original promoter of the Exposition in Cincinnati and chairman of the com- mittee on arrangements, before what he considered "the largest and wealthiest company of gentlemen that had ever assembled at an auction sale west of the Allegheny mountains." The sales on Saturday were brisk and ani- mated. A little after noon all the lots and separate arti- cles had been disposed of, and Mr. Laws, with a few ap- priate words, closed the sale, stepped off the auctioneer's stand, and left the great Exposition of textile fabrics for the West and South to history.

Meetings of the Woollen Manufacturers' Association of the Northwest and of the Southern cotton and wool growers and manufacturers were held during the Exposi- tion. Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the exhib- tors from abroad were treated to rides through the beau- tiful suburbs of the city. Thursday evening a grand banquet was given to them and other invited guests at the Burnet House. Plates were laid for about five hun- dred people. The Hon. Richard M. Bishop, since gov- ernor of the State, was president of the evening. In response to appropriate sentiments, brief but eloquent and often humorous speeches were made by the Hon. Messrs. Milton Sayler, Job E. Stevenson, and Adam F. Perry, of Cincinnati, and Horace Maynard, of East Ten- nessee. Dr. N. J. Bussey, of Columbus, Georgia; George S. Bowen and Jesse McAllister, of Chicago; Mr. Campbell, of California; Mayor Torrence and others, of this city, also made short and spirited addresses, in re- sponse to calls. It was a very happy episode of the week.

Another, though of a quite different character, was a communication sent to the Daily Gazette by the Rev. S. J. Brown, a pioneer of the city, on the day he visited the Exposition. His reminiscences and reflections are of enduring interest, and with them we shall close this sketch:

I this morning made a visit to the Exposition opposite the Burnet House. I came to the village of Cincinnati May 1, 1798, over seventy- one years ago. Looking back to that period of the plain and social days of my boyhood, I recur with pleasure to my sister's spinning on the big and little wheels, flax, cotton, and wool, the warp and filling for the weavers at that early day, and to our linen, cotton, and woollen fabrics, which were worn by the most respectable and noble women of the clos- ing years of the last century. The days of the pioneers are almost gone; but few, very few, remain. How exhilarating to see the products of the year 1869 produced for exhibition, not from the log cabins of the then Far West, the Big Miami of 1796, but from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and other places west and south, in 1869. In one lifetime a village of log cabins, in 1798 about two hundred inhabitants, a garrison of soldiers with Indians around us, has now become a city of two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, with mansions, churches, and public buildings to vie with the old cities of Europe. We now have on exhibition cloths and cassimeres, with an immense variety of fabrics which will bear comparison with the best productions in Eng- land in 1816-17, and '18, when the writer visited England, Ireland, and Wales, and the great manufacturing towns of that period.

In the Exposition whose brief history has been sketched was the main impulse of the present annual

CINCINNATI INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION.

The germs of it had been planted long before by the modest exhibitions of manufactures and arts held by

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the Mechanics' Institute, and briefly named in our histori- cal notes upon that noble institution. From 1838 to the opening of the Rebellion-nearly a quarter of a century -these interesting though not extensive displays had been made, and they are remembered with not a little pride and gratification by the older citizens of Cincin- nati. They ceased, however, amid the excitements and engrossments of the civil strife; but in 1867 the board of directors of the institute was instructed to consider the expediency of holding another of the old-time fairs. The want of a suitable building postponed their revival; but the next year another effort was made, and a large number of the business men of the city were consulted in regard to it. Their replies were few and not at all en- thusiastic in favor of the proposal; and the subject was dropped again, not to be revived until the remarkable in- terest and success of the Exposition of Textile Fabrics, in August, 1869, suggested the inquiry, even before it closed, whether a general exhibition of the manufactures of the city was not both desirable and practicable. The next month, September 11th, at the quarterly meeting of the board of trade, resolutions offered by Mr. A. T. Goshorn were unanimously adopted, as follows:

That it is the duty of the board of trade, as particularly representing the manufacturing interests of the city, to recommend to the manufac- turers the necessity of annual expositions of every branch and article of manufacture in the city and vicinity.

That it would be expedient to hold such an Exposition in this city in the spring and summer of 1880, and therefore the committee on manu- factures is hereby instructed to inaugurate the ways and means to ren- der such an Exposition successful and a credit to the city.

The members of the Chamber of Commerce had been quietly debating a like project, and on the eighteenth of September, one week after the action of the Board of Trade just recited, the board of officers of the chamber directed its president to appoint a committee on the pro- posed Exposition. This was done soon after, and Messrs. James H. Laws, Abner L. Frazer, S. F. Coring- ton, C. H. Gould, and Jacob Elsas were named as the committee. Finally, about the same time, October fifth, came in the board of directors of the Mechanics' Insti- tute, with a resolution that the Institute "hold a grand exhibition of arts and manufactures during 1870," and the appointment of a committee to select a site for its buildings-Messrs. Charles F. Wilstach, P. P. Lane, Thomas Gilpin, James Dale, and H. McCollum. By another resolution this action was communicated to the board of trade, and in return the earnest co-operation of that body was pledged, in the effort to make the exhibi- tion "an entire success, and worthily representative of the industrial reputation of the west." Messrs. A. T. Goshorn and Josiah Kirby were appointed as a select committee to act with Messrs. P. P. Lanc, Thomas Wrightson, and H. A. V. Post, the standing committee of the board on manufactures, in executing the spirit and intent of the resolutions. The board was, some time afterwards, formally notified of the appointment of an Exposition committee by the chamber of commerce, with a request for similar appointments by the board; which was referred to the committee already nominated for the purpose of co-operation. " March 14, 1870, the board of

trade concurred in the recommendation of a committee, that the committee on Industrial Exposition should be made permanent, with a view to the annual holding of the fairs. The said committee for 1870-71 was thus constituted: Messrs. A. T. Goshorn, Josiah Kirby, H. A. V. Post, Daniel B. Pierson, and W. H. Blymyer. Everything being now in train, and co-operation of the three bodies being fully ensured, a joint meeting of their several committees on the Exposition was held March :6th, for the exchange of views relating thereto. The result was the merging of all into one general committee for the organization of the "Cincinnati Industrial Expo- sition of Manufactures, Products, and Arts, in the year 1870." The following-named officers were chosen: Pres- ident, Ex-Mayor Charles F. Wilstach; Vice Presidents, James H. Laws, Josiah Kirby; Treasurer, H. A. V. Post (Mr. Post soon afterwards removed to New York. Mr. C. H. Gould was elected to his position as Treas- urer, and Mr. Joseph Kinsey to his place on the Exposi- tion committee of the board of trade); Secretary, Ab- ner L. Frazer.

A full list of sub-committees was also appointed. Upon them, but more upon the gentlemen named as of- ficers, were to rest the burdens of the great enterprise now fairly under way. They proved neither light nor few. Numerous interviews with leading citizens were had, and committee-meetings held. Each of the organi- zations at the head of the undertaking-the Mechanics' Institute, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Trade-appropriated one thousand dollars to its prepara- tion. This would not, however, secure the committee against loss; and a guarantee fund was pledged by the citizens, in sums of twenty-five dollars to two thousand dollars (the latter by the furniture manufacturers en masse), the whole amounting to twenty-three thousand seven hundred and sixty-five dollars. The subscription was conditioned upon the agreement to return to the subscribers, pro rata, any surplus that might remain after all expenses were paid; and it is a noteworthy evidence of the skill with which the business of the Exposition was managed, and its singular financial success for an in- itial enterprise, that not one dollar of the guarantee fund was drawn, while one thousand five hundred and thirty- three dollars and twenty-two cents remained in the treas- ury of the Exposition after the payment of all bills.

The question of eligible site and buildings next engaged the attention of the committee. It was obvious that, for an exhibition on the scale projected, new structures would have to be erected. Fortunately for the committee, the German musicians of the city had just now on their hands the project of holding a reunion and festival of the North American Sangerbund in Cincinnati during the summer of 1870, for which a great though temporary building must be erected. The use of a site first had been secured from the city council, upon the grounds formerly occupied by the Cincinnati Orphan asylum and owned by the city, opposite Washington park, on Elm and Fourteenth streets-the same now occupied by the magnificent music hall and the permanent Exposition buildings. It was soon manifest, however, that the origi-

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nal hypothesis-that the Sængerfest structure, with an additional building for machinery, would answer the pur- pose of the Exposition-must be set aside; and as many as three additional edifices ultimately became necessary -one of them known as the fine art and music hall. This was situated to the north and northwest of the main building, was of fine proportions, two hundred and twen- ty-four by eighty feet upon the ground, and supplying a floor space of eighteen thousand five hundred and thirty- two square feet. The fine art and music hall, northwest of the Sængerbund building, covered an area one hun- dred and twelve by one hundred and four feet, with four apartments, each running the length of the hall, with in- ter-communication at the ends. The rooms were eight- een feet high in the clear, and were well lighted from above. The walls, handsomely tinted, furnished spaces for exhibits of about twenty thousand square feet. The power hall was southwest of the principal edifice, and closely connected with it. It was a one-story building, one hundred and eighty-four by one hundred and fifty feet, with a long, narrow, building immediately on the south for the boilers for furnishing steam-power, the whole occupying a space of thirty-three thousand six hundred square feet. To the southeast of this was the third new building rendered necessary-comparatively a small affair, put up for the California steam plow, which proved a specially attractive feature of the exhibition. The cen- tral or main building, erected for the Sængerfest with the: aid of five thousand dollars appropriated by the Exposi- tion committee, was a mighty room two hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and ten feet wide, built in a succession of grand arches, seventy-two feet in extreme height. Galleries reached by broad stairways were car- ried around the entire edifice, which, with the main floor, allowed a space for exhibits of forty-four thousand nine hundred and sixty feet.

Some additional room was ob- tained for exhibitors, and greater facility for the move- ment of visitors through the galleries was obtained by throwing a bridge from gallery to gallery, across the mid- dle of the great hall. The total floor space of the Expo- sition buildings was thus one hundred and eight thousand seven hundred and forty-eight square feet, about two and a half acres, to which the wall surface available added eighty-nine thousand feet, or enough to make more than four and a half acres. The floor space alone was larger than the total area afforded for exhibits by the Crystal Palace in New York, for the World's fair in 1853. The location was specially favorable, being somewhat retired from the business and manufacturing centres of the city, with a pleasant park just opposite, and easily reached on foot, or by lines of omnibuses and other carriages that were constantly running thither from the corner of Fourth and Vine streets, the street railways in that direction not having yet been built.

All the arrangements for the Exposition went on pros- perously, except with the railroads for transportation of passengers and freight destined for the fair. In the nego- tiations for this at reduced rates there were numerous halts and hitches. Only the authorities of the Louisville Short Line seemed to have much confidence in the enter-

prise, and the roads declined to sell tickets daily at low fares during the Exposition, as they have readily done in later years. Colonel Maxwell writes: "At a season of the year when large numbers were visiting the city on business, they did not think it expedient to present too strong a temptation to such to avail themselves of the re- duced rates. They, however, with the exception of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad, agreed to run half-fare excur- sion trains on specified days each week, for such as de- sired to avail themselves of this opportunity; and during the last week a number of the roads ran daily half-fare trains. This arrangement contributed largely to the at- tendance; but the number from the country was doubt- less much less than it would have been under more favor- able circumstances." A number of the railroads, near and remote, also agreed to return free of charge to the point of original shipment, all articles for the Exposition, upon presentation of a certificate that such articles were exhibited and not sold. Arrangements were made with many leading hotels and boarding houses of the city, for definite and in a few cases reduced rates of entertain- ment to visitors; of which the public, near and far, was fully advised through the newspapers. These powerful agencies did a great deal to popularize and advertise the Exposition; and in return the managers, during its hold- ing, recommended exhibitors to advertise freely in the local journals, after the universal custom at European fairs, notifying readers of the part of the Exposition where their goods could be seen, and helping to keep the total display constantly and prominently before the people.

After a busy half year, on the part of the general com- mittee and their numerous employes, the Exposition was mostly ready for opening at the appointed time, Wednes- day, the twenty-first of September. As usual in such cases, the number of eleventh hour applicants for space and exhibitors preparing their displays was exceedingly embarrassing, and at times overwhelming. An attractive though imperfect show was already in place, however; and it was determined that there should be no postpone- ment. As evening drew on, the great doors of the main building were opened, and the few hundreds who desired admission during the evening were allowed to enter. An hour or more was spent in viewing the articles so far in place; and at 8:45 P. M. the company gathered in front of the platform in the main hall, for the formal exercises of opening. Ex-Mayor Wilstach, chairman of the gen- eral committee, presided. The Rev. James Y. Boice, pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church, offered prayer. Mr. A. T. Goshorn, president of the board of councilmen of the city, welcomed the exhibitors and vis- itors to the exposition in a few felicitous words. The Hon. John Sherman, then United States Senator from Ohio, delivered the principal address of the evening, one marked by his usual mastery of scholarship and thought. It closed as follows :

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 93

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666