

TENNESSI.K. 



$50,000 to the enterprise. The dim-tor* decided to 



jH-tition the U-gialatur? for a ' *:;:.UMN. 



and sent a iiigitm in !)< inU-r. 



to urge Federal a; ill in Congress 



failed, ami the I*-gilaturv adjourned without vot- 

 . dollar. Thru th- citi/m* of Na-h\illc made 

 up their iiiiiult that they would hold tin- .-\|.o-il imi 

 ihcin-elveH. whether - .eminent 



tin-in or not. In tin- end they triumphed, luit they 

 had to bear tin- burd. n almost aU-n. . 



The work of intere-ting il"- State was carried on 

 unceasingly, ami at last the Legislature passed 

 enabling cooties to make appropriations for di- 

 plaTH of thnr own r.s,,iir-c- at tin- exi*--:' i-n and 



s.e $100.000 

 - ,.f the legal 



.. iii- subscriptions amounted 



to $88,635. including the $:O.Ooo given liy David- 



* meeting wa- held in the evening "f 



July s. nnd proved to IH- tho toning point in the 

 net off tiie enterprise. Just as the Hon. Tully 



II d..x,.,l a jwitriotic appeal, the news came 

 that the City Council had passed the liill submitting 

 to of the jM-ople the proposition to s U bseribe 

 $100,000 to the capital st.n-k. the officers tendered 

 their resignations. U-lieving that those who hal 

 mbtOribMIAboold ha\. the right to .-It-ct. and the 

 hall hail become so crowded that in answer to a 

 i- iiiai. 1 for more room the meeting marched to 

 Watkins Hall, increasing as it went. A c(inmiHee 

 of nine wax ap|ointed to consider the question of 

 miration, and the meeting reluctantly ad- 

 journed. Within two weeks the Milcripiions had 

 reached $165,000. An immense gathering as- m- 

 bled at the Talicrnacle and heard the report of the 

 committee "f nine, which proposed Major .1. \\ . 

 Thomas. Presid nt of the Nashville. Chattanooga 

 and St. Louis Kailway. for President of the Kxp-- 

 pany. This p-ntleman accepted the 

 office with the 'condition, made ly himself, that he 

 receive no salary. He also furnished an efficient 

 secretary in Cbaiiet K. Cnrrey. (n the >ame term-. 

 Van Leer Kirkman was ele.-ied Vi<-i-Pre-i.lent : \V. 

 A. H-nd.-po,n. S-cond Vice-|'r,-ident : John <K.T- 

 ton Jr., Thin! Vic.-1'n-sident ; \V. I*. Tanner, 

 Treasurer; and Frank Goodman. Auditor. These 

 p-ntlemen s*Tved throughout the period of prepara- 

 tion and during the exposition proper. IVc-idcnt 

 Thomas and an executive committee had charge f 

 all affaim when the directors were not in -e ion. and 

 all served without c.mpens4iti<n. On July 30. l^.'-'i. 

 Mai- -vis was appointed director general. 



Wet Side lnrk. tw<. mile- from the heart of the 

 -<-ai-h-d \<\- all the street-car lines, as well as 

 by "the Xa-hvili... n, a ttaiiooga and St. Louis H*\\- 

 way, was chose rite. The first call for 10 



n cent, on nul^-ript ions was made, payable Sent. 

 . 8M. Sept. TJ the director general outlined his 

 plaits The central figure and the architectural 

 r of the exjxt-ition wax to IK* a reproduction of 

 the Parthenon. The foundations of thi- tmildin^ 

 and the corner stone wa- lai<l 



with appmpriaie ceremonies ( ><t H. Subscriptions 

 continued to increase in amount through the winter 

 of 1805 and the spring of 1896. and the city voted 

 the $100.1 WO at th- election held for that purpose, 

 only 488 votes being ca*t against the proposition. 

 The bonds were sold at a premium. Owing to the 

 opening of the presidential cAmnaign and the 

 growing scope of the enterprise, it was decided to 

 postpone the ,til May 1, 1897. and to 



continue the ex ponit ion thr i^h fix months. The 

 construction of the ImiMingH was continued, and 

 v one of them wa* readv for th owning day 

 except the Government Building and the Kdu 

 and Hygiene Building, which had been begun al- 

 most at the last mon 



< >u June 1. 1896, the Woman'- Building and the 

 Auditorium wen- complete, -o that in the-e t\\o 



buildings the > llieldenl to the eelebia- 



tioii tal centennial were held. 



Tii t! | Stftfc - ami 



at least TJo.CXN) TeiinesM-ans participated in theex- 



In July the Na-h\ille. t 'hallan-M.^a and 



-.I the Loni-\il.. 'iville 



Etailroad Company rach subserib.-d S-J:.(KKI n, 



t.. the expositu^i.'in :ii|i|it|..n t.. iiHTi' thall ' 



in transportation all'- . Thi- poli-y of ail 



on the part of the railroads continued ihri-icjhoui 

 the i-xpo-itioii. These and the other -ul-cri|'tion- 

 enalileil the management to pros,., .,,j,. || H . W ork 

 without ce-sation. and to pay f-r e\eiy dollar's 

 worth -f \N--rk when it \va- completed, fn the lat- 

 ter half of ISiHi applications f,,r -pa.-,- \\.|, |o nu- 

 merous as t<> necessitate enlargements of s,. \-cral of 

 the buildings. Yi-iting ih-legations from tin 

 citi.'s cam.-, and were >o min-h pleased that I hey 

 went home and inaugurated the mi\i-m.-nts whicii 

 resulted in t he erection of special but Id ings of great 

 beauty. The press ,,f the country ga\e the expo- 

 sition an unusual amount of atteiiiion from the be- 

 ginning. and the cost ,,f advertising it \\a- i: 

 nominal. l-'>r more than a year beforehand 



effort had been made to Secure t he meet ing in Na-li- 



ville during 1897 of as many of the gn-at I.., dies and 

 conventions as possible, and the lis| of special da\- 

 wa- tii. i : had by any ex|nsit i >n. 



A renewed effort at WafthingtOO resulted in the 

 appropriation 1 ss of $13(UN)0. of which 



a building and the remainder for a 

 display, the appropriation being conditioned on the 

 previous subscription |, v private pers,,i. 

 000. This wa< in December, IS'.M;. ami ill tw(. 

 the additional ^J7.H0 thi-n-by made IM-CC ary had 

 been secured. The -t niggle with the Tennessee 

 Mature was harder and le -IM-C. ful. At 

 first s: ;:,n.( i(K) had been asked for. but at 

 early in 1W it wa- decided to ask for only $100,- 

 000. After a bitter struggle with the opponents of 

 the measure, the State of Tonne ee. fcQKXIgl) its 

 repn-s.-ntatives. v.ted $50,000. Of this, but a part 

 wasavailalile, for $30,000 was used to piiP-ha-e the 

 Agricultural linilding. and the re-t u-ed in pi 

 the State exhibit and in t he expenses of ad m i 1 1 

 tion. The last great struggle catne not long before 

 the opening day, in the effort to incorporate Cen- 

 tennial City. T'his brought up the ^notion of the 

 sale of malt, vinous, and -pirituons liijnors. A bill 

 for the incorporation of Centennial City was intro- 

 duced in the Legislature. It was the work of the 

 combined intelligence and conservatism of the en- 

 tire Kxecutive Committee, but was denounced as the 

 work of brewers and distiller-. Tin- laws of Tennes- 

 see do not allow the sale of spirit nous or malt liquors 

 within four miles of a school, except within an in- 

 corporated municipality, and the Centennial Park 



is Jllst olltsjde the cilVof Na>|, y i 1 le. W it ll sehools 



and universities around it. The Kxecutive Com- 

 mittee asked fora limited corporation, which should 

 expire on I>ec. :n. 1W7. They took the view that, 

 having invited the people of iho world to join in 

 the celebration of the centennial of TCIIIM- 

 the host they must allow the ta-le- ami customs of 

 their gue-t-'t.i be consulted as far as might be. and 

 that beer and wine might be sold under proper re- 

 strictions. Not one of the Kxecutive Committee. 

 was engaged in any industry connected with the 



liquor traffic, directly or Indiractly. The oppo-i- 

 tion to the measure was bitter and persistent, but 

 finally it became a law. Bonds were prepared for 

 $220.ixK. and a loan was obtained that kept the 

 treasury replenished. This was paid off beff.ro the 

 exposition closed. Just before the opening Dr. W. 

 L. Dudley, of Vanderbilt University, was elected 



