All roads will lead to Buffalo in September
Reproduction panoramic flyer view map of Buffalo, New York, publicizing the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, created and published by Gies & Co. in 1901. "All roads will lead to Buffalo in September" is the headline to this advance publication promoting the international fair. On September 5th, the day after the fair's opening, President William McKinley was shot twice outside the Temple of Music as he greeted well-wishers. He was rushed to the fair's emergency hospital and was operated on by candlelight because the hospital had no electricity. One bullet was found and removed, but the other remained in him, and he died 8 days later as a result of it. A hand-written notation appears above the printed article noting the assassination. The flyer map from 1901 includes panoramic map of Buffalo fairground buildings and descriptions of displays.
The following invitation appears in the article:
THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL FAIR.
AN ADVANCE VIEW OF IT'S TREASURES AND MANY PLEASURES.
One hundred acres devoted to Art, Industry, Invention and Amusement. A cheap way to see the wonders of Niagara Falls.
The International Fair at Buffalo, NY, opens Sept. 4th. As the railroads in all parts of the country will make special excursion rates to that point, just before, and after the Fair, there is no reason why you shouldn't "take it in" no matter where you live close by or several hundred miles away.
You remember the Centennial? This International Fair at Buffalo is to be the largest and grandest Exposition held in the United States since then.
It is to continue but ten days, and in those ten days will be crowded, the pleasures of a month.
It is not to be a State Fair; it is not to be merely an Agricultural Fair; it is not to be merely an Industrial Fair. It is to be an Exposition, international in its character, of all the Arts and Industries in which the human race is engaged.
In addition to this it is to be the centre of many wholesome and delightful forms of out-door entertainment.
There are $100,000 There.
Amusement will link arms with Instruction, and the wheels of the machinery in-doors, will revolve in unison with the wheels of the sulkies, chariots, and bicycles in their races for fame around the greensward without.
One Hundred Thousand Dollars have been offered by the management for distribution in prizes and premiums, at this International Fair. It is a larger sum that was ever before offered by any Fair association in the world.
Nearly one hundred acres are embraced in the Fair Grounds and within these spacious limits will be found something to instruct, amuse, and delight all classes of visitors. From the opening of the gates early in the morning until their closing late in the evening, one interesting event will succeed another without interruption.
The main exposition building is an immense structure ; the largest permanent Fair Building in the world. From its central tower, which rises to a height of 165 feet, you can see the smoke-like mist, arising from the Cataract of Niagara, and for miles away on all sides is spread out a splendid panorama of the city, lake and country.
Like a Man in a Balloon.
More immediately before you will be the view of the Fair grounds themselves, belted by a magnificent mile race course. Within the circumference of this mile track you will see another circle half as large. It is on this asphalt half mile race course that the most important Bicycle Tournament ever held in the United States is to occur during the progress of the Fair.
Upon the green meadow, circled by the outer race track you will see the tepees and wigwams of an Indian tribe, a visit to whose quarters will interest you later on.
Almost completely encircling the immense Fair grounds will be seen huge structures newly erected, the contents of which it will be worth while to investigate presently.
In the building, upon whose tower you have in imagination been standing for the last few minutes, will be found objects of every conceivable character in the realms of commerce, invention, and manufacture.
Have a Chat with a Phonograph.
A magnificent Corliss engine supplies a power that keeps all the belts and wheels of a Machinery Hall in motion. You can think of no mechanical industry which is not represented. Yonder is a great Perfecting Printing Press, turning out thousands of copies of a newspaper, every article in which has been written, put in type, and stereotyped on the Fair grounds before your eyes.
Are you interested in electricity? Here you will see its appliance in a hundred different forms.
Over there is the most wonderful of all modern inventions, Edison's perfected phonograph.
This instrument which bottles up every syllable that is spoken to it, and then reports it to you in a human voice when ever you desire, will be exhibited to the public for the first time at this fair.
The Oratorio Societies of London, Eng. recently gave a glorious concert. A phonograph was among the listeners and faithfully treasured up the splendid music. Visitors to the International Fair will have the pleasure of hearing this music from the voice of the phonograph exactly as it sounded when sung across the Atlantic, three thousand miles away.
The Home of Art.
Through broad aisles flanked on either side by exhibits of rare interest, you can walk for hours while streams of delightful music come to you from the instruments of the famous Hungarian Band of Buda-Pesth which among several other musical organizations has been engaged for the Fair.
The Museum of Fine Arts, which is the next structre beyond the main building as you enter the grounds, is sure to claim many hours of attention from all visitors. It is true that the International Fair Association offers liberal prizes to amateur artists, but it has not placed its dependence, for a meritorious fine arts exhibit, on this offer. In this art gallery the visitor will see one painting alone, to gaze upon which hundreds of thousands of New-Yorkers, during its brief exhibition in the metropolis, paid the price which it will cost you for admissions to this Fair with all its thousand different attractions. The painting is Munkacsy's masterpiece, "Christ Before Pilate," which has been, at enormous expense, secured for exhibition here.
A Dead King's Treasure.
In this Art Gallery, too, may be seen a Gobelin tapestry, which was made in the seventeenth century for Louis XIV, and presented by him to Philip, his royal father-in-law.
Beyond the Museum of Fine Arts will be found the Bench and Poultry Shows, both under a single roof, but in a building sufficiently large to show the dogs and birds to best advantage. More thoroughbred dogs are entered here than have ever been brought together in a Bench Show on this Continent.
Two enormous structures, so arranged as to provide for box stalls with a broad promenade in front of them, and having each a central open court several hundred feet square, will be the homes of the prize horses and cattle. All the best known breeds will be on exhibition, and in the tan bark enclosures the animals will be paraded, as at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, for the inspection of the judges.
The buildings for sheep, speed horses, swine, etc., are continued through the Fair Grounds to the extent of nearly half a mile.
Races for Thoroughbreds.
The foregoing has given you a faint idea of what you can see and enjoy beneath the roofed-in portion of the Fair among the exhibits, be they either animate or inanimate.
But much more remains ; much more pleasure which will make a visit to the International Fair memorable.
The races, both running and trotting, will call forth the finest horses in the country. There will be steeple chases, chariot races, flat running and trots for the speediest. The Bicycle Tournament will bring together all the record-breakers of the country. Athletic games, embracing contests of skill and strength, will be interesting features of the out door sports.
At night the beautiful Fair grounds will be illuminated by the most wonderful pyrotechnic display ever seen in America. Mr. James Pain of London who in recent years has electrified New Yorkers by his wonderfully realistic representations of the "Destruction of Pompeii," the "Storming of Alexandria" and other pyrotechnic pageants at Manhattan Beach, will have charge of this department.
Open air concerts will lend an additional charm to the scene. Besides the famous Hungarian Band there will be a magnificent orchestra and several smaller bands. And in addition to all of these delightful features, there remains for visitors to the Fair an opportunity, never before equaled in cheapness and convenience, to enjoy the grandeur of Niagara Falls. The Falls are within a short distance of the Fair grounds and the expense of a visit to them, including all the points of interest and observations of the grand cataract from every advantageous site, will not exceed 50 cents.
Remember that the International Fair begins on September 4th.
