Jamestown Exposition

The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States early part of the 20th century. It was held from April 26 to December 1, 1907, at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads, near Norfolk, Virginia, and commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, the first permanent English settlement in the present United States.

Selecting the Norfolk area as the site

Early in the 20th century, as the tercentennial of the 1607 Founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony neared, leaders in Norfolk, Virginia began a campaign to have a celebration held there. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities had gotten the ball rolling in 1900 by calling for a celebration honoring the establishment of the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown, to be held on the 300th anniversary.

During the planning phase, virtually no one thought that the actual isolated and long-abandoned original site of the Jamestown Settlement would be suitable. This was because Jamestown had no facilities for large crowds, and the fort housing the Jamestown Settlement was believed to have been long-ago swallowed by the James River. There were also no rail lines nearby. However, there was an assumption in many parts of the state that Richmond, the state capital, would be chosen as the site of the celebration.

Hampton Roads' interest was awakened by a bugle call in the form of an editorial in James M. Thomson's Norfolk "Dispatch", on February 4, 1901, proclaiming: "Norfolk is undoubtedly the proper place for the holding of this celebration. Norfolk is today the center of the most populous portion of Virginia, and every historical, business and sentimental reason can be adduced in favor of the celebration taking place here rather than in Richmond."

The "Dispatch" was an unrelenting champion of Norfolk as the site for the exposition, noting in subsequent editorials that "Richmond has absolutely no claim to the celebration except her location on the James River."

By September, 1901, the Norfolk City Council had given support to the project. And in December, 100 prominent residents of Hampton Roads journeyed to Richmond to urge Norfolk as the site. In 1902, the Jamestown Exposition Co. was incorporated. The most popular man in Virginia, former Virginia Governor Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of General Robert E. Lee, was named its president.

The decision was made to locate the international exposition on a mile-long frontage at Sewell's Point. The location was politically correct, as it was almost an equal distance from the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Hampton. The rural Sewell's Point site was also "not" conveniently located near any one of the cities. Fortunately, while hard to reach by land, it was much more favorably accessible by water, which ultimately proved a great asset.

Sewell's Point: prominent, historical, but isolated

With the choice of Sewell's Point, a prominent, historical, but isolated site, the Jamestown Exposition proved to be a logistical nightmare to reach by land for development for the fair. New roads had to be built to the site. Two existing streetcar lines needed to be extended a considerable distance reach the site. The eastern portion of the newly-built Tidewater Railway (soon to become part of the coal-hauling Virginian Railway) was rushed into service, and the local Norfolk Southern Railway agreed to add substantial passenger capacity in conjunction with the Tidewater Railway to prepare to move the thousands of daily attendees anticipated. On the shore, new piers had to be constructed for moving supplies to exposition buildings. Hotels had to be raised to handle the millions of anticipated exposition visitors. Bad weather slowed everything.

Another major setback was the death of Fitzhugh Lee. He died in 1905 while in New England drumming up trade for the celebration. Henry St. George Tucker, a former Virginia Congressman, succeeded him. Norfolk businessman David Lowenberg ran most of the operation as director general.

Mud, low attendance, racial controversy

Opening day was April 26, 1907, exactly 300 years after Admiral Christopher Newport and his band of English colonists made their first landing in Virginia at the point whether the southern shore of the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and gave thanks, planting a cross and naming the location Cape Henry. Within the next few days and weeks, they would find and explore the harbor known as Hampton Roads and sail upriver on its biggest tributary, the James River, eventually setting on Jamestown to begin their first settlement.

The first day of the Exposition had its share of headaches. Only a fifth of the electric lights could be turned on, and the Warpath recreation area was far from ready. Construction of the government pier left much of the ground in the center of the exposition muddy soup. Of the thirty-eight principal buildings and works that the Exposition Company planned for the fair, only fourteen had been completed by opening day—the Fire Engine House and the Waterfront Board Walk having been completed only in the last two days. The company failed to complete two planned buildings, the Historic Art and Education buildings, even by the Exposition’s end in late November.

Prominent visitors included President Theodore Roosevelt, who opened the exposition and presided over the naval review. After the opening day, attendance dropped sharply, and never again achieved projections. The Exposition Company had initially lobbied the federal government for $1,640,000, and received a loan for an additional million, to be repaid by means of a lien on 40% of the gate receipts. When crowds failed to appear in the anticipated numbers—the exposition was attracting on average 13,000 visitors daily, only 7,400 of whom paid entrance—the company was able to repay only $140,000 of the million dollar loan. The fair began attracting negative attention in the press as early as the January before it opened, as a divisive split between members of the planning committee became public. The press who arrived for opening day found the grounds unfinished, the hotels overpriced, and the transportation offered between the fair and nearby towns insufficient.

But in time, things improved and portions of the event became spectacular. Planners asked each state of the union to contribute a building to the Exposition. While some of these buildings offered exhibits on the states' history and industry, others primarily served as embassies of a sort for visitors from the state, providing sitting rooms and guest services. Lack of interest or funds prevented participation by all, but 21 states funded houses, which bore their names: Pennsylvania House, Virginia House, New Hampshire House, North Carolina House, etc. During the exposition, days were set aside to honor the states individually. The governor of each state usually appeared to greet visitors to the state's house on these days. On June 10, 1907, "Georgia Day," Theodore Roosevelt returned to the Exposition, delivering a speech on the steps of the Georgia Building, which had been modeled after his mother's family's home.

The 340 acre (1.4 km²) site included a 122 by 60 ft (37 by 18 m) relief model of the Panama Canal, a wild animal show, a Wild West show, and a re-creation of the then-recent San Francisco Earthquake.

Possibly the most popular attraction was a re-creation of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships, the USS "Monitor" and the CSS "Virginia", which had taken place within sight of Sewell's Point 40 years earlier during the Civil War. The exterior of the Merrimac-Monitor Building looked somewhat like a battleship, while the interior held a large, circular exhibit describing the battle. (Originally built upon the burned-out hull of the USS "Merrimack", the name of the warship which had served the Confederacy as the CSS "Virginia" in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads eventually became a source of continuing confusion. In the years after the war, the better-recognized name became "Merrimac").

The railroads put on elaborate displays. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) displayed its entire F.F.V. passenger train, There was a New York Central (NYC) electric engine on display, part of its Grand Central Station modernization project in New York City. Not to be outdone, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) brought an actual 23-foot-diameter section of its new East River Tunnel. The same section was later installed underwater as part of the link to the new Penn Station in New York City, with an inscription that it had been displayed at the Jamestown Exposition.

There were also late-model automobiles, autoboats, and electric and steam traction engines, each in its highest stage of development.

The exposition was perhaps most notable for the display of military prowess; warships of many nations, including the sixteen battleships of the United States, participated in a naval review, and all kinds of modern military hardware were on display.

A controversial feature of the exposition was its "Negro Building", designed by W. Sydney Pittman and purporting to show the progress of African-Americans, but which was charged with being a "Jim Crow affair", and criticized by W.E.B. DuBois and T. Thomas Fortune. In a letter to "The Appeal to Reason" DuBois explained that “...the Negroes are to be separate in practically all things and are to be treated as a separate caste and to that I am opposed. If the separation were voluntary on the part of the colored people that would be a different thing but for them to accept Jim-Crowism and then work to make the Exposition a success is a thing in which I do not believe.” While Dr. Booker T. Washington was invited and attended as a prominent guest, many African-Americans were reminded of the rising tide of Jim Crow laws that were becoming more influential in the South, as they were forbidden by law to patronize the restaurants at the exposition.

However, other blacks saw the Negro Building as an achievement. Organizer Giles B. Jackson felt that the inclusion of the exhibition in a separate Negro Hall allowed for a greater variety and completeness of presentation, and that the separation allowed the exhibition to better highlight the achievements of African Americans as African Americans. A separate building allowed the exhibit to be more “general and comprehensive” than collections housed in other buildings, and evinced black “capacity as a producer and the maker of anything and everything that has been made by other races.” For this group-- many of whom were middle-class Southern blacks, the Negro Building represented an achievement that few Southern whites would have thought possible-- the building was architecturally ellegant, designed and built by blacks, with funds raised by blacks.

Exhibits from both occupational and classical black educational institutions were represented. While the Exposition itself was a money-loser and derided by many in the press, the Negro Hall achieved nearly universal praise. It was the only exhibit visited by the President in either of his visits. Perhaps most interesting, while Slosson reports that even vendors on the Warpath openly complained about taking a bath on the whole exhibition, the branch bank in the Negro Hall, a branch of a local African American institution, recorded one of the Exposition’s only profits, doing $75,731.87 in business in the course of the fair. One of the centerpieces of the Hall was a series of dioramas by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, a black woman from Philadelphia. This was the first artwork done by an African American with Federally-commissioned funds.

Mark Twain and Henry H. Rogers also paid a visit, arriving in the latter's yacht "Kanawha". The elderly Twain's humorous talk was partly an introduction of Rear Admiral Purnell F. Harrington, former Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard. Said Twain, "In my remarks of welcome of Admiral Harrington, I am not going to give him compliments. Compliments always embarrass a man. You do not know what to say. It does not inspire you with words. There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment. I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me. I always feel they have not said enough." Later that summer, Twain returned and was a guest-of-honor on Robert Fulton Day, as a replacement for ailing former two-time U.S. President Grover Cleveland.

Perhaps the exposition's most impressive display was on water rather than land. Ships of two squadrons commanded by Admiral Robley D. Evans formed a continuing presence off Sewell's Point. On opening day, there was an international fleet of fifty-one ships. The assembly included 16 battleships, five cruisers, and six destroyers. The fleet remained in Hampton Roads after the exposition closed and became President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet under Admiral Evans, which toured the globe as evidence of the nation's military might.

In addition to the ships anchored at Hampton Roads, the exposition provided a campground sufficient to house five thousand troops. Military and “semi-military” men in uniform were admitted for the price of a single day’s admission, fifty cents, and were permitted to come and go after that, as long as they were encamped at the exposition grounds and drilled regularly on the parade ground. This practice not only accounts for a number of the 43% of people tallied entering the fair daily that were not paying admission, but must also be understood as a practice that provided entertainment and attraction to the exposition.

The United States issued a series of three postage stamps in conjunction with the exposition. The 1-cent value portrayed Captain John Smith, the 2-cent value the founding of Jamestown, and the 5-cent Pocahontas.

Accomplishments - financial loss, beginnings of a great naval base

When the Exposition closed on, December 1, 1907, it had been a financial failure, losing several million dollars. Attendance had been 3 million, a lot of people, but only a fraction of the large numbers promised by the promoters. However, it served an American purpose and one for Norfolk and Hampton Roads.

Nearly every Congressman and Senator of prominence had attended the exposition, and the location at Sewell's point was prominently showcased. Sewell's Point, of naval importance in the early Civil War, had been virtually forgotten since shortly after its bombardment and return to Union hands in 1862.

Now the admirals in Norfolk urged the creation of a Naval Base at the exposition site. But nearly 10 years would elapse before the idea, given impetus by World War I, would become a reality. The new Naval Base was aided by the improvements remaining from the Exposition, the strategic location at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads, and the available largely vacant land there. Another favorable consideration was that the coal piers and storage yards of the Virginian Railway (VGN), built by William N. Page and Henry H. Rogers, and completed in 1909, was immediately adjacent to the Exposition site. The well-engineered VGN was a valuable link directly to the bituminous coal of southern West Virginia which the Navy strongly preferred for its steam-powered ships.

On June 28, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson set aside $2.8 million for land purchase and the erection of storehouses and piers for what was to become the Navy Base. Of the 474 acres (1.9 km²) originally acquired, 367 had been the old Jamestown Exposition grounds. The military property was later expanded considerably. The former Virginian Railway coal piers, land, and an adjacent coal storage facility owned by Norfolk & Western Railway (which merged with the VGN in 1959) were added in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, the base now includes over 4,000 acres (16 km²), and is the largest Naval facility in the world.

Some of the exposition buildings which were taken over by the Navy remain in use as of 2006, primarily as admirals' quarters for the Navy Base. Thirteen of the state houses can still be seen on Dillingham Boulevard at the Naval Station Norfolk, on what has been called "Admiral's Row." The Pennsylvania House, which through the first part of the century served as the Officer's Club, later served as the Hampton roads naval museum for many years until it was relocated in 1994 to Nauticus, The National Maritime Center on the harbor in Norfolk.

See also

*Sewell's Point
*Jamestown, Virginia
*Battle of Hampton Roads
*Virginian Railway
*William N. Page

References and external links

* [http://www.hrnm.navy.mil Hampton Roads Naval Museum-Official U.S. Navy Museum in Hampton Roads, VA and holder of many Jamestown Exposition artifacts and papers]
* [http://www.boondocksnet.com/expos/jamestown.html Some contemporary documents discussing the Jamestown Exposition]
* [http://www.twainquotes.com/TwainRogersVA.html Mark Twain and Henry Huttleston Rogers in Virginia] excerpts from their trips together to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition and the 1909 Dedication of the Virginian Railway
* [http://www.navstanorva.navy.mil/expo.htm "When the World came to Town"]
* [http://www.apva.org/jr.html Jamestown Rediscovery]
* [http://www.norfolk.gov/Neighborhoods/Services/histories_1923.asp City of Norfolk Sewell's Point 1923 Annexation]
* [http://www.hrnm.navy.mil/ Hampton Roads Naval Museum]
* [http://www.norfolkhistorical.org Norfolk City Historical Society]
* [http://www.norfolk.gov/Education/ City of Norfolk website, Local History]
* [http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/civwar/html/cw_000301_sewellspoint.htm Civil War and the Battle of Sewell’s Point]
* [http://www.multied.com/Navy/cwnavalhistory/ Civil War Naval History]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/norfolk.htm Naval Station Norfolk website]
* [http://www.nwhs.org/ Norfolk & Western Historical Society.] – Covers Virginian history
* [http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts/ Virginian Railway (VGN) Enthusiasts.] – Non-profit group of preservationists, authors, photographers, historians, modelers, and railfans
* [http://www.virginiasampler.com/virginian_railway_authors.htm listing of Virginian Railway authors and their works]