Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1901 — BIG EXPOSITION IS OPEN. [ARTICLE]

BIG EXPOSITION IS OPEN.

Formalities at Buffalo Delayed Until the President’* Arrival. The Pan-American exposition, incomplete yet very interesting and beautiful, was opened at 8:30 o’clock Wednesday morning without ceremony. At noon forty-five bombs, one for each of the states, were fired, and the United States government exhibit was opened. At 2:30 there was a band concert and at 3 o’clock 5,000 carrier pigeons were released in the esplanade to wing themselves to the many parts of the country whence they were shipped. Each bore tied to its leg a message of greeting. In the evening there was a grand illumination of all the buildings. This program may seem trivial for the first day of a great fair, yet it was not thought wise to make a splurge over an unfinished enterprise. Twenty days from the opening, when the exposition certainly will have been perfected, the real ceremonial opening will take place, with the president starting the machinery.