New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904 / Report of the New York State Commission

by DeLancey M. Ellis

FAIR OFFICIALS FROM NEW YORK

The State of New York has every reason to be proud of her connection with the great Fair, not only in her official participation, which through the generous action and hearty support of the Executive and the Legislature was on a most liberal and comprehensive scale, but many of her sons were prominent in its building, in the creation of its artistic effects, and no less in the administration of its various departments. At the very inception of the work New York was honored in the appointment of Martin H. Glynn, of Albany, N. Y., as a member of the National Commission. Mr. Glynn was afterwards elected Vice-Chairman of the Commission and was one of its most active members. Laurence H. Grahame, of New York city, was Secretary of the National Commission. His genial personality, his wide acquaintance and his long experience in newspaper work admirably fitted him for the duties of the position, which he performed with fidelity. Mrs. Daniel Manning, of Albany, was President of the Board of Lady Managers. The position was one requiring marked executive ability, dignity and tact. Mrs. Manning performed the arduous duties falling to her lot with a grace and cordiality which won for her the love and esteem of the official delegates to the Exposition from throughout the world. She was signally honored on many occasions and is one of New York's most distinguished daughters. Judge Franklin Ferriss, the general counsel for the Exposition Company, and one of St. Louis' most eminent lawyers, went forth from our State many years ago to seek and find his fortune in the West.

CHIEFS OF EXHIBIT DEPARTMENTS

Of the thirteen chiefs of departments in the division of exhibits New York lays claim to six. The Department of Education and Social Economy, as well as the Department of Congresses, was under the direction of Dr. Howard J. Rogers, now Assistant Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, and formerly Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction; also United States Director of Education and Social Economy at the Paris Exposition in 1900.

Milan H. Hulbert had charge of the great Department of Manufactures and Varied Industries. Mr. Hulbert is a native of Brooklyn and a graduate of the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He was in charge of the Department of Varied Industries for the United States Commission to Paris in 1900. The Art Department was presided over by Professor Halsey C. Ives, now of St. Louis, but formerly of New York State. The old school house in which he received the ground work of his education still stands at Montour Falls, Schuyler county. Professor Ives was also Chief of Arts at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The Chief of the Department of Machinery, Thomas M. Moore, is a native, and has always been a resident, of New York city. He was in charge of the Departments of Machinery, Transportation, Agricultural Implements, Graphic Arts and Ordnance at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo.

Of late years Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Chief of the Forest, Fish and Game Department, has been a resident of New York State. In 1895 he became the director of the Aquarium in New York city and rebuilt that establishment. He was Chief of the Department of Forestry and Fisheries for the United States at the Paris Exposition in 1900.

The Chief of the Department of Physical Culture, James E. Sullivan, has always been a New Yorker. He is an acknowledged athletic record authority and editor of the official athletic almanac. He was in charge of the American contingent that competed in the Olympic games at the Paris Exposition, and was also director of athletics at the Pan American Exposition.

SCULPTORS

The heroic equestrian statue "The Apotheosis of St. Louis," generally considered one of the finest works of its kind, which stood at the very gateway to the Fair grounds, symbolizing the cordial welcome extended by the city to her guests from every part of the world, was the work of Charles H. Niehaus, of New York city. The sculpture of the Louisiana Purchase monument, the surmounting figure typifying "Peace" and the base decoration of groups representing scenes connected with the purchase, was by Karl Bitter, chief of sculpture of the Exposition, another New Yorker. Just in front of the monument and looking upon the grand basin were four groups portraying frontier life, entitled "The Buffalo Dance", "A Step to Civilization", "Peril of the Plains", and "A Cowboy at Rest", all being the work of Solon Borglum, another New Yorker. The crowning artistic and architectural effects of the whole Fair were embraced in Festival Hall and the Cascades. These were the work of two New York men, Cass Gilbert and Emanuel S. Masqueray. Mr. Gilbert was the architect of Festival Hall and Mr. Masqueray designed the Cascades and the Colonnade of States. Mr. Masqueray had other notable pieces of work in evidence about the grounds.

The Palace of Manufactures, standing just to the east of the Plaza St. Louis, was the work of Messrs. Carrere and Hastings, also New Yorkers. It was regarded as one of the most successful structures upon the grounds from an architect's point of view and it was appropriate that to New York men should have been intrusted the construction of the building in which exhibits of manufactures were displayed, in view of the pre-eminence of our State from a manufacturing and commercial standpoint.