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University M icrofilm s International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1318943 BENSCH, CHRISTOPHER LYNN CINCINNATI'S 1888 CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION AND THE CIRCUS. UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE (WINTERTHUR PROGRAM), M.A., 1982 COPR, 1982 BENSCH, CHRISTOPHER LYNN University Microfilms International 300 N. ZEEB BO., ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V . 1. Glossy photographs or pages ^ 2. 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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CINCINNATI'S 1888 CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION AND THE CIRCUS By Christopher Lynn Bensch A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Early American Culture. June 5, 1982 Copyrigiht Christopher Lynn Bensch 1982 All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CINCINNATI'S 1888 CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION AND THE CIRCUS By Christopher Lynn Bensch Approved; Kermdth L. Arad'S*, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis Approved: Stephanie G. Wblf, Ph.T). T’ ---- Coordinator of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture Approved:______ ______ R. B. Murray, Ph.iT University Coordinator for Graduate Studies Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.............................................. 1 Chapter I. CINCINNATI AND THE CIR C U S.............................. 8 II. THE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN ..................................18 III. AN EXPOSITION IN CIRCUS STYLE .......................... 30 IV. THE GREATEST SHOWS ON EA R T H .............................. 42 V. A WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT............................... 55 NOTES ........................................................ 70 BIBLIOGRAPHY................ • ............................... 78 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Newspaper Advertisement for the Cincinnati Centennial E x p o s i t i o n ........................................... 14 2. Overview of the Exposition Grounds on Opening Day ........ 23 3. View Down Elm Street Toward Music Hall and Washington Park Hall ........................................... 27 4. The Fountain and Central Rotunda in Washington Park H a l l ................................................. 35 5. View of Horticultural H a l l .............................. 38 6. Tne Canal in Machinery H a l l .............................. 50 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION Cincinnati is not a city known for its glamor. Longfellow saw the city in its best light when he called it "The Queen of the West in her garlands drest / By the banks of the beautiful river." More typical were references to the city as "Porkopolis." Guidebooks described how "the smoke of hundreds of factories, locomotives, and steamboats arises and unites to form this dismal pall, which obscures the sunlight, and gives a sickly cast to the moonbeams. But Cin cinnati was more than a dingy river town, It shared with London, Philadelphia, Paris, and Chicago the distinction of being the site of a significant 19th-century exposition, Cincinnati's 1888 Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Central States was much smaller than any of the more famous fairs, yet over a million visitors sampled its exotic and electrical delights during the sunnier and fall of 1888. Today, the Cincinnati Centennial has faded from view and from memory in ways that London's Great Exposition and Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition have not. Nevertheless, the Cincinnati Cen tennial merits its share of attention, not only as a portion of expo sition history, but also as an indicator of the character of its age. The Cincinnati Centennial grew out of numerous forces at work in Victorian America. After the success of London's 1851 Great 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Exposition, fairs were held with increasing frequency throughout the western world, In the years following the Civil War, America's industrial production--particularly of consumer goods— increased and fairs were well-suited for publicizing technological advances and new products, Cincinnati began its series of annual Industrial Exposi tions in 1870. The expanding railroads both facilitated the indus trial success which produced the goods on display at expositions and enabled people to travel to distant expositions at reasonable rates. But the western world's spate of expositions celebrated historical events and cultural heritages as well as the latest developments of science and industry, Americans were swept up in this consciousness of the past and a "monument mania" possessed the nation, inspiring all manner of commemorations. Memorial obelisks were erected, historic sites like Mount Vernon were restored, and expositions were held to celebrate a wide variety of anniversaries. At the same time, the growing cities produced urban audiences which needed amusement, and the industrial and office work schedules gave people more free time to spend on entertainments. Meanwhile, non-farm wages rose in the 1880s despite the period's deflationary tendency, multiplying the nunber of people with money for leisure activities. The exposition was one of the new institutions which responded to these conditions,^ The last quarter of the 19th century produced numerous— and often simultaneous— expositions in various styles and sizes. The Cincinnati Centennial was part of this Victorian sequence of fairs. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. It was likewise the culmination of a lengthy series of industrial expositions in Cincinnati. But to understand the Cincinnati Cen tennial , it must be separated from exposition stereotypes. Neil Harris, describing the 1893 Columbian Exposition, noted, "Animal