Pan-American Exposition
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a fair held in Buffalo, N. Y., from May 1 till Nov. 3, 1901. It was distinctively an American exposition, the exhibits from the various States of the Union and of South and Central America being unusually full. The buildings were made of staff tinted a soft greenish-blue. Power for the electrical exhibit, the finest ever given, was derived from Niagara Falls. Over 5,000 horse power, and 200,000 incandescent lamps were used. The electric tower alone had 44,000 electric lights on its sides. Financially the exposition was a failure, due largely to the setback the exposition received at the time of President McKinley's assassination, which caused a temporary closing. The total cost of the exposition was $8,860,757.20; the total receipts were $5,534,643. PAN-AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CON- GRESS. The second meeting of the Pan-American Scientific Congress was held in Washington, D. C., from Dec. 27, 1915, to Jan. 8, 1916. The meeting, which resulted in the exchange and advancement of new ideas and views in the scientific and educational world in the Pan-American aspects, was held for the advancement of civilization. Eduardo Suarez, Chilean Ambassador to the United States, presided over the meeting, which was largely attended by public men, scientists and educators of American countries. The discussions covered almost the entire range of human activity and progress. To facilitate progress, the congress was divided into 9 sections, which were in turn divided into 45 subsections, and the various phases of the matters under discussion were considered by the proper sub-sections or group meetings. Elihu Root delivered a notable address before the Congress, asking protection for the weaker nations by the adoption of international rules of conduct. On Jan. 6, 1916, Woodrow Wilson urged a plan proposed by Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, on an agreement between all American nations which would guarantee the independence and territorial right of each party to the agreement, and provide for the settlement of all disputes by arbitration. The members of the Congress were guests at a banquet given by Secretary of State Lansing on Jan. 8. The next meeting of the Congress will be held in Lima, Peru, in 1921, the time of the celebration of the centennial of Peruvian independence.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's wrote in 1921 as though the Buffalo fair of 1901 were recent memory, and its buildings of tinted "staff" were never meant to last: nearly all were pulled down within a year or two, and the grounds north of Delaware Park are now ordinary Buffalo streets, with a stone marker on Fordham Drive noting where the Temple of Music stood when McKinley was shot on 6 September 1901. Only the New York State Building, built in marble as a permanent structure, survives; it has housed the Buffalo History Museum ever since. What the entry treats as an incidental disaster is now the exposition's chief claim on memory: McKinley died on 14 September and Theodore Roosevelt took the oath in a Buffalo house that became a national historic site in 1966. The Pan-American diplomacy described in the second half also outgrew its scientific congresses, hardening into the Pan American Union and, in 1948, the Organization of American States.
Written for this edition, 2026.