1897 Centennial exposition in Tennesee

[Breizh]

The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition was held in Nashville from May 1st to October 31st, 1897 in what is now Centennial Park. Comparison to present day included, it looks like only the Parthenon and lake remain.

Don't forget your admission ticket.

This general view of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition features the Parthenon and the Memphis Pavilion in the foreground of the image. The Commerce Building, the Education Building and the Giant See-Saw are in the background of the photograph. Lake Watauga occupies the foreground of the image. The prevalence of flags flying, bench seating, and such infrastructure elements as sidewalks, street lamps, and decorative railings and columns on the grounds reveal the mammoth scale of this undertaking for the State of Tennessee.

The Memphis-Shelby County building was modeled after the Cheops Pyramid because of the city of Memphis and its connection to ancient Memphis, Egypt. Inside the pyramid were displays sponsored by the businesses of Memphis exhibiting commerce and industry.

Angled view of the U.S. Government Building at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. The building stood close to the main entrance of the grounds near Lake Katherine. The building, with classical style architecture, had the form of a cross. The center was intended to resemble in general appearance the dome of the newly constructed Library of Congress in Washington. Flags were mounted on each corner of the building.

The Terminal Station of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition marks the entrance of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway onto the grounds of the Centennial City. This one hundred foot square building allowed railroad lines to highlight the vegetable and mineral products of the soils that bordered their routes. The states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia were represented.

The Pythian Building was erected by members of the order of the Knights of Pythias, a secret and fraternal order whose Nashville members erected the building as a resting place and social gathering to be used during the Centennial. The building was modeled after Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson.

The Rialto Bridge across Lake Watauga connected the terminus of Capital Avenue with the east entrance to the Parthenon. The Rialto housed shops where fairgoers could purchase a variety of Centennial souvenirs. The bridge was illuminated at night with numerous incandescent lamps.

The Illinois Building was erected by the State of Illinois as a miniature reproduction of the Administration building at the Chicago World's Fair. It was one-sixth the size of the original, and was used as a headquarters for Illinois visitors. The building was located at the end of Capitol Avenue, and was in view of the Rialto and the Parthenon. The Illinois Legislature donated $60,000 for the construction of the building. Surrounding the building was statuary representing elements of nature and man's creative spirit.

The ornate Spanish Renaissance-style architecture was used in the design of the Negro Building. The cornerestone was laid on March 13, 1897. In front of the building is Lake Watauga.

Front and side view of the Minerals & Forestry Building. In the foreground can be seen Lake Watauga with a small boat on the water.
This was one of the larger builldings at the Exposition, containing a total of 76,888 square feet. It proved to be one of the favorite exhibits. Native and imported woods were displayed along with minerals from various states. It was believed that this building was similar in style to "Arlington," the Arlington, Virginia, home of General Robert E. Lee.

An exterior view of the Children's Building at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which was located beside the Gourd Arbor. The building was a two-story structure with Rococo style architecture.

The Machinery Building measured 375 x 138 feet and highlighted the genius of mechanical invention. It was a strikingly handsome and massive structure patterned after the Greek Parthenon and the Propylaeum in Munich. The machinery in the building was run by the Corliss engine, which was manufactured in Hamilton, Ohio. The architectural style was an example of Greek Doric and served as a perfect complement to the Parthenon, which appeared on the opposite side of Lake Watauga. The foreground of the image features Lake Watauga.

The Agriculture Building had a large central dome surrounded by six smaller domes. Five of these domes were dedicated to Tennessee's agricultural contributions, including corn, cotton, and tobacco.

Centennial Park, showing the construction process and a general view of Lake Watauga and Lily Lake. The Auditorium, Parthenon, Flagstaff, Administration Building, Commerce Building, and Transportation Building are pictured. Scaffolding is erected outside the main entrance to the Transportation Building.

Most of those pictures come from here.

The official narrative presents this as "a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece".

From the offical Parthenon website:

1895 Tennessee Centennial organizers lay the first foundation stone of the Nashville Parthenon. The Parthenon, made of plaster, wood and brick, is the first building to begin construction for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.​

1897 The Tennessee Centennial Exposition is held May 1 - October 30, 1897. Like a world's fair, all the exhibit buildings are temporary and made of inexpensive materials. Over the six month duration, approximately 1.8 million people attend the Centennial.​

1898 The majority of the Centennial buildings are moved or destroyed. The Parthenon remains the centerpiece of the empty fair grounds.​

1920 The city of Nashville decides to make the Parthenon a permanent aggregate concrete structure. Local architect Russell Hart is hired for the reconstruction.​

1925 The exterior of the newly reconstructed Parthenon is complete.​

1931 The interior of the replica is complete. The Parthenon re-opens to the public as a city museum on May 20, 1931.​

...​

• The Parthenon in Athens was carved out of Pentelic marble and it took the Athenians approximately 10 years to construct the building, 447-438 BCE.
• The Nashville Parthenon was created from brick, stone, structural reinforced concrete, and cast concrete aggregate. It took the City of Nashville nearly 10 years to build their Parthenon, 1921-1931.

From a visitor blog:

Nashville’s replica of the Parthenon was originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition. It was damaged by fire and re-built from 1921 to 1931.

A sign at the Nashville Parthenon reads:

-- “These bronze doors weigh 7.5 tons each. They are 7 feet wide, 24 feet high, and 1 foot thick. They are considered to be the largest matching set of bronze doors in the world. The doors are balanced on steel hinges with ball bearing collars at the top and bottom so they move easily. In contrast, the doors of the ancient Parthenon were probably made of wood, covered with bronze plate, thus needing the semi-circular track in the floor to bear part of the load. These doors do not use the track.

Nashville architect Russell Hart designed these doors, using figureheads sculpted by Leopold Scholz and Belle Kinney Scholz. They were manufactured by the General Bronze Company, Long Island, New York. These doors were installed in 1930, and open and close daily.”

So an interesting narrative with many classic elements - amazing architecture, temporary buildings, damaged by fire, many destroyed, one rebuilt etc. Could this have been part of a larger town (city?) with a railway terminal station, powerplant and so-called "U.S. Government building" (apparently intended to resemble the dome of the newly constructed Library of Congress in Washington).

Another assortment of images to compare the "temporary" Parthenon with the "reconstructed" Parthenon.
Potential dating/narrative issues...

Date based on Detroit, Catalogue J Supplement (1901-1906)​

"The Parthenon is rebuilt in the 1920s"​

You can zoom into this image below.

"Reconstructed" Parthenon -

You can zoom into this image below.

​

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The main issue with these pictures from the "Scientific American journal" is the birds eye view illustration doesn't match the actual photo in my earlier post showing the "Cheops pyramid" building very close to the Parthenon. The other picture "general view of park"...when was it taken and is it real? The journal is dated Januray 16, 1897 - 4 months before the official exposition date - and shows the Parthenon with a damaged roof, what looks like scaffolding and missing exposition buildings. The exposition was held May 1 - October 30, 1897, about 4 months after the date on this journal.

 

[Breizh]

I just realised there is an earlier thread on this here.

 

[OKKorral]

I just realised there is an earlier thread on this here.

These Parthenons being all over the place everywhere, they must have been some sort of standardized (perhaps pre-fabricated) building serving a specific purpose (think of apartment buildings for example, the same building being "replicated", they all look the same, same construction plan etc...) I wonder what their real purpose was.....
Also, if these are Old World buildings, I wonder how they survived the utter rampage of indiscriminate destruction brought by the "Northern Yankees".

 

[Breizh]

These Parthenons being all over the place everywhere, they must have been some sort of standardized (perhaps pre-fabricated) building serving a specific purpose

Yes, it's that same old "Greco-Roman" architecture you see in on several continents.

"Northern Yankees"

Do these people you're referring to have other labels? I'm not familiar with the "Northen Yankees".

 

[OKKorral]

Yes, it's that same old "Greco-Roman" architecture you see in on several continents.


Do these people you're referring to have other labels? I'm not familiar with the "Northen Yankees".

What I meant was whomever it was in the event we know as "The American Civil War" (I seriously doubt it was what they are telling us it was), where in the official story it was the so called "North" (Northern States) that wrought destruction through the land - known affectionately to the other side as "Yankees" (I remember reading about the origin of the word and if my memory doesn't betray me the origin was uncertain, inconclusive), - see "Billy Yank"/"Johnny Reb" dichotomy. It was never my intention to be disrespectful to anyone if that were to be the case, I used the term out of fancy.
It would be really cool if we could know what really happened there, as well as for other events (Napoleonic Wars, various "Civil Wars", "Revolutions" etc...)

On one hand I am inclined to think that Pyramids too (they are always all over the place everywhere lol) must have been like these Parthenons: a sort of pre-fabricated standardized building serving a specific purpose. As to what that purpose might really have been, it eludes me completely.

 

[Breizh]

Aha OK I see what you mean.

...the event we know as "The American Civil War" (I seriously doubt it was what they are telling us it was), where in the official story it was the so called "North" (Northern States) that wrought destruction through the land - known affectionately to the other side as "Yankees"
...
It would be really cool if we could know what really happened there

I think to decipher the nature of the so-called "American Civil War" you'd need to look into who originally owned Las Floridas which stretched from modern day Florida all the way up to Canada, including Northern Mexio. I shared a lot of info about this including the map in the American Civil War thread.

This is a 1657 map of La Floridas. It has “Tamerikaans” (Tameri-Khans?), written above the plaque of Florida. Tameri is also an old name for ancient Egypt.

The Louisiana Purchase & Territory comparison

On quora.com I found a series of interesting posts by this person, their perspective on the American civil war aligns with all of my research so far (see thread linked above).

Oh, the messed up and re-written American history. Many of the so called “blacks slaves” were natives that were converted into slaves on their own land. The natives (Indians of all shades) were the “REAL” Confederacy. After the initial colonists arrived, Europe sent their militaries here to basically remove the natives from the lands they wanted for themselves. The Union (North) vs Confederates (South) is a concocted story. All of the Indian (Confederacy) Wars were against the European militaries (Union).

 

[OKKorral]

Aha OK I see what you mean.






The Louisiana Purchase & Territory comparison



On quora.com I found a series of interesting posts by this person, their perspective on the American civil war aligns with all of my research so far (see thread linked above).

l always like looking at these maps of the Americas; the size of the Spanish Possessions and of Florida have always intrigued me. I noticed in some maps Florida denotes all the Spanish possessions, from somewhere about the Rio Grande upwards. And it is big indeed.
La Florida... what secrets do you keep concealed?
Just noticed the peninsula we know today as "Florida" is named as Tegesta Province.

I was thinking about posting something when I have a decent amount of time in the above mentioned thread. Curiosities such as the Zouvaes and the likes.

 

[Breizh]

l always like looking at these maps of the Americas; the size of the Spanish Possessions and of Florida have always intrigued me.
...
La Florida... what secrets do you keep concealed?

The enormous stretch of land called "Las Florida" in that map was owned by the Washitaw Moors:

US President, Thomas Jefferson, sent Robert Livingston to purchase the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon only had the power to sell the harbor city of New Orleans to the United States. According to The Secret Treaty, Napoleon violated International law by selling the city without consent from Spain; making, the deal null and void. The Washitaw received no money from the Louisiana Purchase and the purchase exceeded its boundaries by covering over 15 states and parts of Canada which were never part of the deal. The United States took land without giving the Washitaw due process and equal protection of the law, which should have come in the form of a hearing and compensation for their land. This never transpired; therefore, the land was unlawfully taken from the Washitaw by the government.

As a result of this evidence and the fact that according to Article VI, of the United States Constitution, “Treaties are the supreme law of the land,” and the 14th and 5th Amendments of the US. Constitution, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process and equal protection of the laws;” the United Stated is in direct violation of Constitutional and International law by occupying Florida and 15 current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, better known as the Louisiana Purchase.

According to due process of the law and equal protection of the law, if the government can’t give the Washitaw their land back, the government is bound by the law to give the Washitaw Moors just compensation for their land in the form of payment.

Here's another relevant quote I found (I don't recall where). For context, the so-called Indians were officially renamed as such ("Indians"). Originally they were called moors.

The war of 1812 involved the U.S. Corporation (Rome) versus Indian Tribes like the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, etc. 1812 was a big reset year that involved huge territories of land being ceded to Rome, via treaties made with the U. S. corporation. These Moors/ Indians were labeled mixed Negro slaves from Africa because they were Blackamoors, so a story had to be created that made them foreigners, instead of being indigenous to the Americas, since these wars were all about acquiring land and resources.

This quote from someone on quora depicts a similar narrative to the quote from my earlier post:

Many of the so called “blacks slaves” were natives that were converted into slaves on their own land. The natives (Indians of all shades) were the “REAL” Confederacy. After the initial colonists arrived, Europe sent their militaries here to basically remove the natives from the lands they wanted for themselves. The Union (North) vs Confederates (South) is a concocted story. All of the Indian (Confederacy) Wars were against the European militaries (Union).

Regarding use of the label "Moor":

In the Negro Laws of South Carolina of 1839 reads as such:
“The term Negro is confined to slave Africans (Ancient Berbers) and their descendants.”[2][1]
The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 11: The High Empire, A.D. 70-192.
...
2016 Delaware Code, Title 29 – State Government, CHAPTER 1. JURISDICTION AND SOVEREIGNTY § 106.
Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware; recognition:

(4) The Tribe was formerly known as “the Moors” and, for many decades of the twentieth century, state documents such as driver’s licenses designated the Tribe’s race with an “M”.

 

[OKKorral]

The enormous stretch of land called "Las Florida" in that map was owned by the Washitaw Moors:


Here's another relevant quote I found (I don't recall where). For context, the so-called Indians were officially renamed as such ("Indians"). Originally they were called moors.

This depicts a similar narrative to the quote from my earlier post:


Regarding use of the label "Moor":

Really interesting, I was unaware of that (regarding the Indians/Lenape), thanks for the info man. If you know where I could read more about it, please do tell, thanks.

 

[Breizh]

Here's the document from the Delaware gov site on the recognition of the Moors/Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware:
Chapter - Delaware General Assembly