Part 564: Thomas G. Moses at the Jamestown Exposition, 1907
1907 was a busy year for Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis studio. However, he managed to get away for short trip with his wife Ella. They traveled east to visit the word fair in Norfolk and stayed for a few while so that Moses to do some sketching in West Virginia. Their travels included New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Washington and Norfolk. They visited the Jamestown Exposition on September 27; it ran from April 26 to November 30 that year.
The Jamestown Exposition commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony on May 13, 1607. It was held at Sewell’s Point on Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia, and celebrated the first permanent English settlement in America. The 367-acre site featured a port that hosted the rendezvous of more than 50 warships from around the world. Fourteen Nations were represented at the International Military & Naval Celebration. Sixteen warships from President Theodore Roosevelt’s newly modernized fleet were also in the harbor. On June 28, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson bought 474 acres for the base, including 367 acres of the exposition grounds. The site of the Jamestown exposition became part of the Hampton Roads Navy Base after World War I.
Final attendance numbers were recorded as 2,758,692 for total attendance, with 1,401,409 paying for entry. Admission prices were fifty cents for adults and twenty-five cents for children. Newspapers reported that actual attendance numbers did not meet anticipated projections. There were both logistical and financial problems, as with many world fairs in America; the fair did not generate the expected revenue and a government loan was required to finish the preparations. Toward the end, there was a bustle of activity, and as the opening deadline approached construction materials became scarce. This necessitated the erection of a sawmill on site. Unlike previous world fair delays where the opening was pushed back a few days, the arrival of the ships in the harbor meant there was no option for any postponement.
On the fairgrounds there was an amusement area was known as the “Warpath,” with the tag line “Meet us on the warpath!” Attractions included a wild west show, cycloramas of Gettysburg and Manassas, the “Temple of Mirth,” the “Beautiful Orient,” “Streets of Cairo,” Ferrari’s Wild Animal Show, “Destruction of San Francisco,” Baby Incubator, Deep Sea Diving, the “Klondike Gold Mine,” Princess Trixie and Paul Revere’s Ride, the Old Mill, “Fair Japan,” Colonial Virginia, the Ostrich Farm, American Monorail Exhibit, plus an Intra-Mural and Miniature railway concession. In 1975, twenty of the remaining exposition buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an entire historic district.
Of their visit to the Jamestown Exposition, Moses wrote, “Took the boat from Washington to Norfolk and had a delightful trip immensely, excepting that we found no art gallery in the exposition.” By this time, Moses was a member of both the Salmagundi Club in New York and the Palette & Chisel Club in Chicago, continuing with his fine art work. Previously on the trip, Tom and Ella visited the Carnegie Art Gallery, This was Moses’ first time to the Carnegie Art Gallery and he was delighted with the various artworks.
To be continued…
