Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1901 — SUPREME IN BEAUTY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SUPREME IN BEAUTY

GREAT PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION AT BUFFALO. An Enterprise of V».st Proportions and Ui\pa.reJled Magnificence, Illustrating Progress in the Western Hemisphere During the Nineteenth Century.

Aj a beautiful spectacle, the PanAmerican Exposition will surpass any former enterprise of its character, rt will delight and satisfy the eye, and memory will long retain the picture presented. The style of architecture is a free treatment of the Spanish Renaissance, and the architects have made the most of the opportunity to enhance its picturesqueness. The buildings are covered with staff, which is molded into thousands of fanciful shapes, and color is used with such excellent effect as to evoke the name of “Rainbow City” for the ensemble of Exposition palaces. It is the first attempt to produce a harmonious color scheme at an exposition, and is a grand success. Sculpture adds greatly to the effect, majestic statues and costly modeled groups being upon the buildings „and bridges and in the courts. There are more than 125 of these grand works, t>y the most noted sculptors of America. The court settings are superb. They take up more than 33 acres, approximately two and a half times greater than the area of the courts of the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago. The hydraulic and fountain effects are of a superior or-

der. In all the courts are large pools of water into which hundreds of fountains throw their sparkling streams. In all the courts and upon the grounds outside the buildings are very elaborate horticultural and garden effects. The floral display is exceedingly fine. Nothing which might contribute to make a scene of loveliness has been overlooked or-omitted by the builders of the Exposition City. With all its wonderful beauty by day, the Exposition wilPbe, like the Cereus of Tropical America, a flower of.the night. Then will it blossom in exquisite perfection. With all the playing amid floating Tights upon every golden, rippling pool; with the great cascade shooting in veil-like form from its niche In the Electric Tower, which rises to a height of 391 feet; with more than ~200,000 electric lights fringing every building and giving to every jet and ripple of water a fantastic iridescence: with music lending the charm of sweet sounds to the harmony of color and sculpture, flowers, foliage and fountains, the evening scenes at.this will be such as no l.over of the beautiful will permit to pass without at least one determined effort to witness them. An electric display, the like of which has ne.ver yet been seen, is promised, and <this will be possible" on account of the nearness of the great plants which have harnessed Niagara and put Its tremendous power to commercial use. The sum of $10,000,000 has been expended to provide a magnificent spectacle ahdTllustrate the achievements of the nineteenth century. The Midway alone cost $3,000,000. and the variety of novelties and their quality excel the features of any former amusement enterprise at an- exposition. Music is an important .feature of the Exposition. The magnificent Temple of Music, which has a seating capacity of 2,200, contains one of the largest

and finest pipe organs ever constructed in America, built to order at .a cost of $15,000. Entertainments of a high order of excellence will be given in the Temple. .In the band-stands in the Music Gardens and elsewhere on the grounds concerts will be given by Sousa’s Band of 100 pieces, the Mexican Government Band of 67 pieces, and other famous musical organizations. In all the exhibit divisions the PanAmerican is very complete. It is the aim of the Exposition to show the progress of the nineteenth century in the Western world. The exhibits are gathered from all the principal states and countries of the Western Hemisphere and the new island possessions of the United States government. Special efforts have been made to bring together exhibits of exceptional novelty and of the highest educational value. The divisions, each oUthem a considerable exhibition in kself, are as follows: electricity and electrical appliances; fine arts, painting, sculpture, decoration; graphic arts, typography, lithography, steel and copper plate printing, photo-mechanical processes, drawing, -engraving and bookbinding; liberal arts, education, en-

gineering, public works, constructive architecture, hygiene and sanitation, music and the drama; ethnology, archaeology, progress of labor and invention, isolated and collective exhibits; agriculture, foods and their accessories, agricultural machinery and “appliances; horticulture, viticulture; live stock, horses, cattle, sheep, swine, pet stock; forestry and forest products; fish, fisheries, fish products and apparatus for fishing; mines and metallurgy; machinery; manufactures; transportation exhibits; railways, vessels and vehicles; ordnance. The Exposition grounds are in the . northern part of Buffalo, adjacent to the large and beautiful Delaware Park. They are about one mile in length from north to south, and a half a mile wide. There are 350 acres, including 133 acres of improved park lands and lakes. Entering the grounds by way of the Lincoln Parkway, the visitor obtains a magnificent view of the picture presented. In the immediate foreground is a portion of Delaware Park, one of the famous beauty spots of Buffalo, with the Park Lake, the North Bay at the left, and in the foreground south of the bay, in course of construction, the Albright Art Gallery, a beautiful permanent building of white marble, the gift of John J. Albright of Buffalo to his fe\low citizens, and costing over $400,000. North of the bay is the New York State Building, also a permanent structure of marble. These two buildings are in the style of Greek temples, one containing reminders of the Parthenon and the other resembling the. Erectheum upon the Acropolis at Athens. Between the North Bay and the lake, the city of Buffalo has built at large expense a new and beautiful bridge of heavy-masonry, known as the Bridge of the Three Americas. This bridge carries the broad thoroughfare which leads from the main southern entrance to the approaches of the Ex-

position. On the northern shore of the lake is situated the life-saving station erected by the government. Upon the southern bank of the lake, a beautiful casino and boat-house has also been built by the city of Buffalo for Exposition uses. The symmetrical grouping of buildings will be at once noted by the observer. Beginning at the formal approach, just north of the lake, the eye follows northward between two rows of ornamental columns to what is known as the Forecourt. East of this are the State and Foreign Buildings, forming in themselves a very interesting feature of the Exposition. Near these, also, are the. buildiDgs for the special ordnance displays. West of the Forecourt are the outdoor Horticultural displays and the Women’s Building. We cross now the Triumphal Bridge, remarkable for its tall piers richly ornamented with statues. On either side are the Mirror Lakes, which form a part of the Grand Canal, more than a mile in length, which surrounds the main group of buildings. We come next to the Esplanade, which is nearly two-fifths a mile long and 450 feet wide. The western end

of the Esplanade is enclosed by the Horticulture, Graphic Arts, and Mines Buildings. The eastern end is shut in by the government group of three large buildings. Sunken gardens with elaboroate fountains and many groups of sculpture occupy the two arms of the Esplanade, and the decorative features throughout this broad space are very numerous and beautiful. North of the Esplanade is the Court of Fountains, with the Ethnology Building on the right and the Music Building on the left. Two subordinate courts also open into the Esplanade from the north, the one on the east being known as the Court of Cypresses and the one on the west as the Court of Lilies. Next, north of the Ethnology Building, on the right, and fronting upon the Court of Fountains, is the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, and on the opposite side the Machinery and Transportation Building. Tn the Court of Fountains is a large pool, having an area of about two acres, and containing many beautiful fountains. Proceeding again northward, we come to the Mall, a broad avenue, half a mile long, extending from the eastern boundary to the western gate of the Exposition. Fronting upon the Mall, on the right, is the Agriculture Building, and on the left the Electricity Building. We now arrive at the most conspicuous feature of the Exposition, the massive Electric Tower. This tower stands between the Court of Fountains and the Plaza, in a broad pool, about two acres in extent. ’ Immediately north of the Electric Tower is the Plaza with its beautiful sunken gardens and band-stand in the center, the Propylaea or monumental entrances at the north, the entrance to the Stadium at the east, and the entrance to the Midway on the west. The Exposition will open May 1, and continue for six months.

ELBERT L. LEWIS.