BUFFALO, N.Y. — In any discussion regarding the biggest events ever in held in Buffalo, one could make an argument for the 1901 Pan American Exposition, which is the subject of the latest exhibit to open at the Buffalo History Museum.
"The eyes of the world were on Buffalo and eight million people came here," said Anthony Greco, the museum's Director of Exhibits.
Fittingly, the exhibit is housed inside what was the New York State Building during the Pan American Exposition, and which was the only one of the many ornate structures put up which was intended to be permanent after the exposition closed its six month run.
Indeed, despite their impressive appearance, the rest of the 90 buildings on the 350 acres of exposition grounds in what is the Nye Park neighborhood of North Buffalo, were stick framed and covered in plaster ... almost like a movie set.
"And that's how you end up with these beautiful Spanish Renaissance and Italianate buildings, which, if you made them out of marble, would have taken millions and millions of dollars and years and years to complete," Greco said.
Photographs make it appear they were white, but only because we didn't have color film back in 1901. In fact, most of the gaudy looking buildings were painted a pale taupe, pinkish almost, with bursts of color gracing the ornamentation, which itself was largely precast.
That times were quite different back then is also reflected in some of the exhibits that visitors could see at the event held in the earliest part of the 20th century ... the likes of which would not pass muster today.
"On the midway there was the Old Plantation exhibit that sort of celebrated the antebellum south in away we would not do today," Greco said. "And there was exhibit called Darkest Africa, where they brought over villagers from Africa and paid them really low wages to reinforce the stereotypes about Black people."
The Pan American Exposition shared something else in common with other Worlds Fair type of events.
It lost a lot of money.
"It lost about $2 million in 1901," Greco said.
Adjusted for inflation, that amount would be roughly $65 million today.
"But it was also a huge economic stimulus for the city. There were hotels and boarding houses that were full with absurd amounts of people, and certainly to local businesses it was huge," Greco said.
Also like at other World Fairs, much of the focus was on the marvels of modernity, and at the time when it was held "electricity" was a the star of the show.
Generated in Niagara Falls, it was transmitted to Buffalo and used to bathe the exposition in spectacular light.
It also belied what turned out to be the event's darkest chapter, the assassination of President William McKinley when he visited the exposition in September.
That singular event also magnified the 1901 Pan American Exposition's footnote in history.
"McKinley being assassinated at the exposition certainly added a substantial bit of history to it," Greco said.