Administration Building, SC & West Indian Exposition

Photograph

Historic Charleston Foundation

Administation Building, SC & West Indian Exposition

Name/Title

Administration Building, SC & West Indian Exposition

Entry/Object ID

2004.021.104

Description

Photo is identified as the SC and West Indian Exposition Administration Building, under construction. Bradford Lee Gilbert, architect.

Context

Held in Charleston from December 1, 1901, to June 20, 1902, the SC Inter-State and West Indian Exposition followed world’s fairs in other southern cities. While many of the city’s traditional merchants and bankers were uninterested, the idea gained support from the city’s progressive young businessmen. Under the leadership of Frederick C. Wagener, Charleston’s Exposition Company raised money through private and corporate subscriptions to stock, a municipal bond issue, state government, and donations of convict labor. The company acquired the lands of the old Washington Race Course and the adjacent Lowndes farm, lying north of the city along the Ashley River. The company hired Bradford Lee Gilbert, a New York-based architect and the supervising architect of Atlanta’s Cotton States Exposition (1895), to oversee the design and construction of the landscape and buildings. The goal of the Exposition was to stimulate trade through the city’s harbor, where traffic had steadily decreased since the Civil War. In the wake of the Spanish-American War, the Exposition’s proponents sought to position Charleston as the principal port of exchange between the United States and the Caribbean and Latin America. However, the federal government did not give the Exposition its formal approval until just before the start, and no foreign governments sent official exhibits. Poor weather, a late installation of many exhibits, and a chronic shortage of funds, all contributed to the poor financial results of the Exposition. After the end of the Exposition, the city of Charleston acquired the eastern portion of the grounds containing the formal court and main buildings for use as Hampton Park. In the 1910s, the state acquired the western portion of the grounds along the Ashley River for the new campus of the Citadel. (Source: SCEncylopedia.com)

Collection

Sams Photograph Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2004.021.

Source or Donor

Family of Franklin Frost Sams

Acquisition Method

Gift

Made/Created

Artist

Sams, Franklin Frost

Date made

circa 1901

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Photograph

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Graphic Documents

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Expositions, Historic buildings

Search Terms

Demolished buildings, lost buildings, Lost architecture, South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition (1901-1902 : Charleston, S.C.), Hampton Park (Charleston, S.C.)

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Other Number

60-20-S

Dimensions

Height

5 in

Width

7 in

Location

Container

PhotoBox 2

Shelf

AV Materials

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Date

February 7, 2023

Location

Building

Missroon/Archives/Photo Collection Shelves

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Gilbert, Bradford Lee

Related Entries

Notes

2004.021.103, 2008.001.1, 2008.002.0007, 2008.005.10, 2008.005.8, 2008.005.9

Related Publications

Notes

Links appear to be broken- SF 6/23/23 Library of Congress film footage: President Roosevelt reviewing the troops at Charleston Exposition http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?papr:1:./temp/~ammem_7ze5::@@@mdb=cola,coolbib,papr,afcnyebib,pin,ncr,afc911bib,varstg Midway of Charleston exposition http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?papr:2:./temp/~ammem_7ze5::@@@mdb=cola,coolbib,papr,afcnyebib,pin,ncr,afc911bib,varstg Panoramic view of Charleston exposition http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?papr:3:./temp/~ammem_7ze5::@@@mdb=cola,coolbib,papr,afcnyebib,pin,ncr,afc911bib,varstg Charleston chain-gang http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?papr:4:./temp/~ammem_7ze5::@@@mdb=cola,coolbib,papr,afcnyebib,pin,ncr,afc911bib,varstg

Copyright

Copyright Details

Public domain.

General Notes

Note

Notes: Other ID# is that given by Mrs. Levkoff, as well as some of the scene identifications of some of the photos. Other photo identification was provided by a member of the Sams family at some unknown time. See Accession Record for more details.

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

March 21, 2006

Updated By

sferguson@historiccharleston.org

Update Date

June 23, 2023