Social Victorians/1887 American Exhibition/Site and Facilities

Specifics about Time and Place
In Earl's Court, West Kensington, London

Related Events
The American Exhibition, which opened on 6 May 1887

Fairgrounds in Earl's Court
Three train stations were near the fairgrounds.

The site included facilities built especially for William F. Cody's "Wild West" show. According to Cody, the "Wild West" site cost $125,000 to construct (709-710). The accommodations for the audience assumed up to 40,000 spectators.
 * Arena, which was fenced and "more than a third of a mile in circumference" (Cody 709-710).
 * Grandstand, which, according to Cody, flanked the arena and was "filled with seats and boxes, estimated to accommodate 20,000 persons" (709-710).
 * "Sheltered stands" for 10,000 other audience members plus, apparently, room for another 10,000 (Cody 709-710).
 * "Indian encampment, which included "a large hill" that "was decorated by a grove of newly planted trees" (Cody 709-710).
 * Stables "for horses, mules and mustangs" (Cody 709-710)
 * Corrals "for buffaloes, antelope, elk, etc." (Cody 709-710).

Overview of the Site and Grounds
In his Four National Exhibitions and Their Organiser, Charles Lowe describes the site and, once the buildings, gardens and arena were constructed, the grounds and facilities of the American Exhibition:

Exhibition Site

It has previously been said that, four months Exhibition before the Exhibition opened, the site of it at Earl's Court and West Brompton was a huge cabbage-garden; and within this brief interval, thanks to the energy with which Mr. Whitley superintended the working of 2,000 men in two gangs — one set labouring by day, and one by night — it had been tastefully laid out and substantially covered with all the buildings and appliances necessary for the success of the forthcoming Show. "It is interesting to myself," said Mr. Whitley in 1890, "to look back and recall the difficulties I had in bringing the railway companies who own the land to understand the advantages to themselves of such a series of Exhibitions, and then to compare their views at that period and the views they hold to-day, when, from being a no-rent-producing asset, [58/59] that land is now so productive to the District Railway Company that their competitors, the Metropolitan Railway Company, seriously think of taking a leaf from their book, and erecting exhibition buildings at Wembley Park." But he did at last, by dint of much hammering and arguing, succeed in proving to his landlords, "who are several of the most important railroad companies in England," that their interests were identical with those of the Exhibition Management; and this he proved so conclusively that "not only have they placed this unique site at our service at a merely nominal rent, but are also cordially affording us every assistance in the way of approaches, stations, advertising, &c."

And certainly the site was as advantageous as it was unique. Occupying the triangular space, twenty-four acres in extent, between Earl's Court, West Brompton, and West Kensington, the Exhibition grounds, with four railway stations in their immediate vicinity, were thus placed in direct communication with the whole of England, Scotland, and Wales. At these four railway stations no fewer than six hundred trains were timed to arrive daily, at the service of the ten millions of people living within one hour's distance by rail of the Exhibition, as well as of the five millions living within half an hour's journey, not to speak of the 150,000 strangers who, it was calculated, entered the City of London daily. Altogether, for accessibility, the site at Earl's Court, with its four railway stations and five [59/60] entrances, was probably not equalled by any other in the United Kingdom.

Buildings and Grounds

The main Exhibition building was constructed of iron and glass, in the simplest yet most and substantial manner, the length of the principal gallery being 1,140 feet, and its width 120 feet. Annexed was a refreshment saloon 90 feet wide by 240 feet long, and close to it the Fine Art Building, consisting of seven rooms, which, owing to the immense value of the works they were erected to contain, were built of brick and rendered perfectly fireproof. Without taking into account the gangways, passages, and the rooms required for the display of paintings and statuary, a covered space of from about 7,000 to 8,000 square metres with wooden flooring was available for exhibition purposes; also 3,000 square metres of wall space in the large Industrial Gallery, and from 2,000 to 3,000 square metres of wall space in the Fine Art Galleries. Moreover, from 2,000 to 3,000 square metres were available in the gardens for those exhibitors who preferred to erect special pavilions. Finally, a large amphitheatre had also been erected; with seats for 15,000 to 20,000 persons, this construction being intended for monster fêtes and for representations of the national life, manners, and customs of the country exhibiting. After the manner of American cities, the Exhibition main building and outer grounds were laid out in avenues and streets running at right angles to each other, and furnished with the [60/61] nomenclature peculiar to New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston.

Never before, certainly, in the history of this country, at any rate, had buildings and gardens of equal extent been constructed and arranged — one may almost say conjured up — in so short a space of time; but all these results, as well as the minor triumphs of organisation, had only been achieved by a truly Herculean power of grappling with and overcoming difficulties. Writing to a friend after the success of the Exhibition was no longer doubtful, Mr. Whitley said: —

"Remembering what this site of ours was a few months ago, you will now, doubtless, be astonished at the great length of the Main Building, with its handsome façades; at the beauty of the Gardens won out of a cabbage-field and a sea-kale swamp; at the huge dimensions of the galleries in the Wild West section; at the quiet and repose which characterise the six rooms filled with choice specimens of American paintings; as well as at the little army of janitors, policemen, turnstilemen, and clerks (whose ranks are still very numerous in spite of the fact that I have lightened and simplified their labour by turning over the whole of the bookkeeping and supervision of the accounts to Messrs. Turquand, Youngs, and Co.); at the Switchback Railway and the Toboggan Slide; at the Band Stand, which is the largest in London; at the seven bridges we had to build, including the huge structure over the railway tracks of the London and North Western, the Great Western, the London, Brighton, and South Coast, the West London Extension, and of the London and South Western Railway Companies. This bridge (the 'Washington') had to be built almost exclusively on Sundays, as the railway companies would not allow [61/62] men to work, with trains passing under, except between midnight on Saturday and midnight on Sunday, when the traffic was reduced to a minimum, for fear of timber or tools falling. Consider again, my friend, that gas, water, and drain-pipes had to be laid over the whole twenty-four acres, and connected with the main culverts; that 10 ten-thousand-candle power lights had to be supplied to the Grounds, as well as 250 two thousand-candle power lights which had to be erected on masts in the main building, &c., and a tank for the surplus supply of water capable of holding 150,000 gallons; that roads had to be constructed throughout the whole of the Grounds, and that about 10,000 loads of soil had to be carted over sleepers (laid down expressly for the purpose) to form the huge mounds which may now be seen on the Wild West section; that artists had to be employed for months painting the scenery of the Rocky Mountains for the arena; that in the midst of all these preoccupations I had to negotiate with thirty-seven railway companies throughout the United Kingdom for conveying additional hundreds of thousands of passengers during the excursion season to and from the four stations on the Grounds; that I had to make special arrangements with the Metropolitan Police and for the services of a Fire Brigade; that plans for every 'stick and stone' connected with each single structure on the whole twenty-four acres had to be submitted in duplicate, and in some cases sixfold, to the Metropolitan Board of Works; that music and liquor licenses had to be obtained and renewed; that contracts had to be made with boiler and engine makers for the supply of engines and appliances for giving motive-power to the Main Building, and to supply power to the dynamos both for the Main Building, Gardens, and Wild West. Then finally consider that I have not only received no financial assistance from either the American or English Governments, but, on the contrary, have had to struggle against a very active, persistent, and almost venomous opposition, originating in an official source; — and then, perhaps, you will understand me when I say that, for months at a stretch, I felt as if I were working in a mine a thousand feet below the surface of the earth, a mine with no outlet to the light [62/63] of day, and a mine which was but an underground edition of a cercle vicious.

"Very few persons — three at most — have the slightest conception of the inferno I have gone through, since April, 1884, for the sake of 'our American Cousins.'"

Classification of Exhibits

We have thus sufficiently described the nature and extent of the Exhibition Buildings and Grounds, and now we must give a general enumeration of their varied contents which the British public were invited by Mr. Whitley to come and see. No fewer than 1,078 American producers and manufacturers had responded to his call, and their exhibits were classified and set forth in Six Departments, viz.: —


 * I. Agriculture.
 * II. Mining and Metallurgy.
 * III. Machinery.
 * IV. Manufactures.
 * V. Education and Science.
 * VI. Fine Arts.

And truly when all these Departments were ready for public inspection (as they were by the 9th of May, 1887), they constituted, with all their inevitable incompleteness and shortcomings, a display at once surprising and instructive. How varied and comprehensive were the opportunities of exhibitors may be judged from the following classification:— [63/64]

Department I.— Agriculture.

CLASS

Department II.— Mining and Metallurgy.
 * 1) Arboriculture and Forest Products.— Ornamental Woods, Timber, Dye-woods, Barks, Gums, Resins, Mosses, Seeds.
 * 2) Pomology.— Fruits, Nuts.
 * 3) Agricultural Products.— Cereals, Vegetables, Roots, Tobacco, Hops and Seeds.
 * 4) Land Animals.— Cows, Sheep, Horses, Swine, Poultry, &c. Wild animals.
 * 5) Marine Animals, Fish Culture and Apparatus.— Fishes, Oysters, Clams, Shells, Corals. Whalebone, Fish-glue, Isinglass, Fish-oil. #Fishing apparatus. Fish Culture.
 * 6) Animal Products.— Hides, Leather, Bone, Horn, Glue, Wax, Feathers, Hair, Bristles.
 * 7) Alimentary Products.— Milk and Cream, Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Honey, Sugar and Syrups. Wines and Malt Liquors. Bread, &c. Vegetable Oils. Preserved Meats, Fruits, and Vegetables, and Extracts.
 * 8) Textile Substances of Vegetable or Animal Origin.— Cotton, Hemp, Jute, Flax, Wool, Cocoons and Raw Silk.
 * 9) Machines, Implements, and Processes of Manufacture.— Spades, Hoes, Rakes, Shovels, Ploughs, Harrows, &c. Corn-planters, Drills, Reapers, Mowers, Hay-loaders, Thrashers, Hullers, Corn-shellers. Feed-cutters, Mills, &c. Incubators. Churns, Cheese Presses, &c.
 * 10) Agricultural Administration.— Laying out Farms. Clearing (Stump Extractors), Drainage. Gates. Fertilisers. Road-making and Excavating Apparatus. Models of Farm Buildings, Cocooneries, Aviaries, Dairies.

CLASS Department III.— Machinery. Department IV.— Manufactures.
 * 1) 11. Minerals, Ore, Stones.— Including Artificial Stones and Cements. [64/65]
 * 2) 12. Metallurgical Products.— Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Antimony. Nickel, &c. Alloys.
 * 1) 13. Machines, Tools and Apparatus of Mining, and Metallurgy.— Drills, Borers, Coal-cutters, Hoisting Machinery, Crushers, Stamps, Concentrators, Gas Machines, &c.
 * 2) 14. Machines and Tools for working Metal, Wood and Stone.— Planing, Sawing, Grooving, Drilling, Slotting, Boring, Mortising, Cutting, Moulding and Carving Machines, Lathes, Rolling Mills, Blowers, Anvils, Forges, Emery Wheels, Drills, Taps, Dies, &c. Brick, Pottery and Tile Machines.
 * 3) 15. Machines and Implements for Spinning, Weaving, &c.— Machines for the manufacture of Silk, Cotton, Woollen, India-rubber and Paper Goods, &c.
 * 4) 16. Machines, Apparatus, &c., used in making Clothing and Ornamental Objects.— Sewing and Knitting Machines. Machines for making Boots and Shoes, Jewellery, Buttons, Pins, Needles, &c.
 * 5) 17. Machines and Apparatus for Type-setting, Printing, Stamping, and Paper-working.— Printing Presses, Type-writing Machines. Printers' Furniture, Types, &c. Paper and Card-cutting Machines.
 * 6) 18. Motors and Apparatus for Generation and Transmission of Power.— Boilers and Steam or Gas-generating Apparatus for motive purposes. Waterwheels, Windmills. Steam, Air, Gas, and Water Engines. Shafting, Belting, Cables, &c. Steam Gauges, &c.
 * 7) 19. Machines and Apparatus for the Production and Application of Electricity.— Voltaic-Electric, Thermo-Electric, Magneto-Electric, and Dynamo-Electric Apparatus, Motors, Accumulators, Conductors, Conduits, Insulating Materials, Joints and Connections, Alarms, Telegraphs, Telephones, Electrical Illumination, Electro-Plating, &c. [65/66]
 * 8) 20. Hydraulic and Pneumatic Apparatus.— Pumps. Air Compressors. Blowers, Hydraulic Jacks, Rams, Presses, Elevators, Fire Engines and Eire Extinguishing Apparatus, Hose, Ladders, Fire Escapes. Stop Valves, Cocks, Pipes, Ice Machines.
 * 9) 21. Rail-way Plant, Boiling Stock and Apparatus.— Locomotives, Cars, Wheels, Brakes, Couplers, Ties, Switches, Frogs, &c., &c Street Railway Cars.
 * 10) 22. Aerial, Pneumatic and Water Transportation.— Pneumatic Railways and Dispatch Boats, Life Rafts, &c. Steering Apparatus.

CLASS Department V.— Education and Science.
 * 1) 25. Chemical Preparations.— Acids, Alkalis, Salts, Oils, Soaps, Paints, Essences, Perfumery, Cosmetics, Explosive and Fulminating Compounds.
 * 2) 26. Ceramics.— Pottery, Porcelain, Glass, Bricks, Terra-cotta, Tiles.
 * 3) 27. Furniture and Decorative Objects; Art Metal Work.— Furniture, Table Furniture, Glass, China, Silver Plate and Plated Ware, Mirrors, Picture Frames, Gas Fixtures, Lamps, &c.
 * 4) 28. Heating, Cooking and Laundry Apparatus and objects of general use in construction and in buildings.— Stoves, Ranges, Steam Heating Appliances, Radiators, Manglers, Wringers, Ironing Machines, Kitchen utensils. Sanitary appliances. Manufactured parts of buildings, &c. Galvanised Iron Work, Metal Hollow- ware.
 * 5) 29. Yarns and Woven Goods.— Cotton Yarns and Cloths. Woollen Yarns and Cloths. Linen Yarns and Cloths. Blankets, Shawls. Oil Cloths, Carpets, Felts.
 * 6) 30. Silks and Silk Fabrics.— Spun Silk, Woven Silks, Eibbons, &c. Bindings, Braids, Upholsterers' Trimmings, &c. [66/67]
 * 7) 31. Clothing, Jewellery, Ornaments. Travelling Equipments.— Clothing of all kinds, Boots and Shoes. Hats, Caps, and Gloves. Millinery, Embroideries, Artificial Flowers, Trimmings, Pins, Hooks and Eyes, Fans, Umbrellas, Canes, Pipes, Toys and fancy articles. Jewellery, Trunks, Valises, &c.
 * 8) 32. Paper, Stationery, &c.— Stationery. Blank Books. Writing, Wrapping, Printing and Wall Papers. Cards, Cardboard.
 * 9) 33. Weapons, ancient and modern.— Firearms and Ammunition. Sporting Apparatus.
 * 10) 34. Medical and Surgical Apparatus.— Surgical and Dental Instruments and Appliances. Pharmaceutical Apparatus.
 * 11) 35. Hardware, Edge Tools, Cutlery, &c.— Hand Tools and Instruments. Hardware used in construction. Plumbers' and Gasfitters' Hardware. Ships' Hardware.
 * 12) 36. Manufactures of Vegetable, Animal, or Mineral materials.— India-rubber Goods and Manufactures. Brushes, Ropes and Cordage. Wooden and Willow-ware.
 * 13) 37. Carriages, Vehicles and Accessories.— Coaches, Velocipedes, Bicycles, Baby Carriages, Waggons, Carts, Trucks, Sleighs, &c. Carriage and Horse Furniture — Harness and Saddlery, Whips, Spurs, &c.

CLASS Department VI.— Fine Arts.
 * 1) 40. Educational Appliances and Apparatus. Printed Books, &c.— School Furniture, Maps, Charts, &c. School Books, General Literature, Newspapers and Periodicals.
 * 2) 41. Institutions and Organisations.
 * 3) 42. Scientific and Philosophical Instruments.— Instruments of Precision and Apparatus of Physical Research and Experiment. Astronomical Instruments. Nautical Instruments. [67/68] Surveying Instruments. Aeronautical Instruments. Thermometers and Barometers. Indicating and Registering Apparatus. Gas and Water Meters, Logs, Calculating Machines. Weights and Measures, Scales, Balances. Clocks and Watches. Optical Instruments, Lenses, and Prisms. Microscopes and Telescopes. Photographic Apparatus.
 * 4) 43. Musical Instruments.— Pianos, Organs, Band and Orchestra Instruments, &c.
 * 5) 44. Engineering and Architecture.

CLASS Industrial Exhibits.
 * 1) 46. Sculpture.
 * 2) 47. Drawing.
 * 3) 48. Painting.
 * 4) 49. Engraving.
 * 5) 50. Photography and Lithography.

A reference to the List of Awards (which will be found in the Supplement, p. 440) will show Exhibits, to what extent the above fields of industry and art were illustrated by special devices and inventions native to the United States. In particular labour-saving machinery of all kinds* (including a bewildering assortment of sewing-machines and typewriters) was very well represented; while miracles of destruction, in the shape of Gatling [68/69] guns, were varied by the most recent wonders of dentistry, a branch of surgery in which the Americans are decidedly foremost. It may be admitted that the industrial department of the Exhibition was certainly not what it might have been had its first promise been fully realised. Nevertheless, with all its imperfections, it was most creditable to all concerned, and was richly calculated to give British producers and consumers a better idea of the wares challenging their competition, or inviting their purchase, in American markets than they ever had before. Whatever the scale, it was at least an "America in Miniature" put down in the heart of London. As an American writer said:—

"The display in this industrial department of the Exhibition will embrace everything peculiar to the United States, its woods, fruits, marine animals and apparatus, textures, farming utensils, mechanism and methods, models of farms, ores, minerals, miners, carpenters, printing, sewing and typewriting machines, railway and electrical plants, chemical preparations, heating and cooking apparatus, furniture, woven fabrics, jewellery, stationery, weapons, hardware, surgical implements, vehicles, musical implements, and every other conceivable natural and manufactured product of the United States. The Exhibition will be, in fact, as has been happily said, 'America in Miniature.' The visitor will be able to see within the twenty -four acres covered by the Exhibition the wonders of the Yosemite and the Yellowstone; the gigantic fruit of the Golden State; the marvellous automata, fraught with seemingly human intelligence, that sweep the great wheat fields of the West; the mammoth vegetables that leave holes in the ground big enough for cellars; fossils with strange geological histories; ores, minerals and precious stones from our mountains; cotton passing [69/70] from the field to the fabric; the food we eat and the fluids we drink; the light we burn and the heat that warms us; the cradles we are rocked in and the coffins we are buried in; the rolling palaces in which we span our Continent, and the weapons we use to shoot deer and buffalo while skimming across the prairies."

[* this is a fn] The machinery in motion was placed at the garden end of the main hall, and occupied about a third of the length of the building. Power was supplied to the exhibitors from a main shaft, running lengthways down the hall, supported on A frames, which, together with bearings, &c., were supplied by Messrs. Mather and Platt, of Manchester.

(Lowe 58–70)

Cody describes the site of the Exhibition itself:
After brief social converse, and a tranquilizing smoke, we made a casual visit to the grounds, where the preparations for the stabling, the arena and the grand stand, with busy hundreds of workmen hastening their completions by night by the aid of lucigen lights and bon-fires, presented an animated scene, and a display of energy rarely witnessed in connection with an amusement enterprise. These operations were dealing with the expenditure of $125,000, including the fencing in of an arena more than a third of a mile in circumference, flanked by a grand stand filled with seats and boxes, estimated to accommodate 20,000 persons. Sheltered stands for 10,000 more were also being erected; it being understood that room for 40,000 spectators in all should be provided at each performance. For the Indian encampment a large hill had been thrown up by spare labor, and this was already decorated by a grove of newly planted trees. The stables for horses, mules and mustangs, and the corrals for buffaloes, antelope, elk, etc., were all in simultaneous course of construction. Everything so far impressed me very favorably and I began to feel that if we did not command success we would, with our advantages of location, surroundings and novelty and realism, at least deserve it. (Autobiography 709-710)

From "The American Exhibition," an account in the Illustrated London News on 16 April 1887, about 3 weeks before the opening:
The American Exhibition, of course, has in view also the legitimate aim of stimulating and extending the export trade of the United States, and quickening the flow of capital to America for the development of her internal wealth and resources. Its special purpose is to display, in the Metropolis of Great Britain, the chief market of the world, a more complete collection of the productions of the soil, and of the mines and manufactures of the United States, than has ever yet been shown in England at any International Exhibition; and so to impress the people with a sense of the magnitude and the variety of the industrial resources of that country, and the skill and ingenuity of its artisans, as to extend its foreign commerce. The idea of this Exhibition was conceived about three years ago; after much thought and toil, and the expenditure of many thousands of pounds, at length it assumed a definite shape; and very early next month, with the immense preparations rapidly pushed forward, Londoners and visitors from the country will be able to enjoy the result, in what promises to be one of the greatest, the most original, and most instructive of similar Exhibitions.

The grounds secured at Earl's Court, West Kensington, consist of twenty-three and a half acres, of triangular form, with seven entrances, including three direct from different railway stations, namely the Earl's-Court Station, the West Kensington Station, and the West Brompton Station. The other entrances are in Warwick-road, in North End-road, and two western, in the Lillie-road. It will be seen that the facilities for reaching the grounds are of unusual convenience; and the hearty co-operation of the railway companies who own the land occupied by the Exhibition makes it certain that tickets can be purchased at any station in England direct to the grounds.

The Exhibition will comprise three departments. The first of these, occupying that portion of the grounds nearest West Brompton Station, consists of the main Exhibition building and the annexes, which contain the Art Gallery and the principal restaurant. The main building fronts the Lillie-road, and is close to the West Brompton Station, on the west side. The south elevation is of light-coloured brick and stucco, and contains the Exhibition offices. It is 210 ft. wide, and very graceful and pleasing to the eye. The main court, running north-west from this entrance, is 120 ft. wide and 1260 ft. long. The framework is constructed mainly of railway rails, and is covered with corrugated iron and glass. It is not only very strong, but is at the same time light, airy, and graceful. Only the floor being of wood, it has the additional advantage of being practically fireproof. This is laid out in streets and avenues running at right angles to each other, in the way that American cities are commonly constructed. On the south-west side is the principal restaurant, which is 90 ft. by 224 ft.; and north-west of this is the Art Gallery, 80 ft. by 160 ft. In this main building will be centred the serious interest of the Exhibition. The space could have been disposed of several times over, so numerous have been the applications received. The management has therefore had the opportunity of selecting only the very highest class of exhibits, and those in which America excels. There will be a very large proportion of exhibits of machinery in motion, and of articles in process of manufacture, as "making something" is always attractive to people, a fact which was fully demonstrated by the popularity of the Indian Court at the Exhibition last year. Agricultural machinery will also be a prominent feature, and there will be collections of canned goods, manufacturing jewellery, watches and clocks, and an endless variety of novel and curious products of American ingenuity and invention.

The Art Gallery will contain about one thousand pictures by American artists, and these will afford a good opportunity of judging of the progress in that direction made by Americans since the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. Interspersed with the pictures in the Art Gallery will be a collection of hunting trophies, brought from America by different sportsmen; Mr. E. North Buxton is at the head of the committee having charge of this interesting collection of hunting trophies.

A large covered bridge, crossing the railway, leads from the main building eastward to the grounds nearest Earl's Court Station, where will be located "Buffalo Bill's" Wild West Exhibition. The preparations for the reception of this unique entertainment have been very extensive; they were made under the supervision of Major J. M. Burke, the general manager of the "Wild West." The track is over one third of a mile in circumference, and within this is the arena. It is [Col A/B] flanked by a grand stand filled with seats and boxes, which will accommodate twenty thousand persons. Standing room under shelter is provided for over ten thousand more, and this, with the spectators in the open, will give a good view of the entertainment to about forty thousand people. A large hill has been thrown up of earth and rocks; and on this, amidst a grove of newly-planted trees, will be the encampment of the Indians, the "cow-boys," and scouts. At the other side of the grounds are extensive stables for the Broncho horses and mules, and a corral for the buffaloes, antelopes, elk, and other wild animals. This remarkable exhibition, the "Wild West," has created a furore in Ameria, and the reason is easy to understand. It is not a circus, nor indeed is it acting at all, in a theatrical sense; but an exact reproduction of daily scenes in frontier life, as experienced and enacted by the very people who now form the "Wild West" Company. It comprises Indian life, "cow-boy" life, Indian fighting and burning Indian villages, lassoing and breaking in wild horses, shooting, feats of strength, and Border athletic games and sports. It could only be possible for such a remarkable undertaking to be carried out by a remarkable man; and the Hon. W. F. Cody, known as "Buffalo Bill," guide, scout, hunter, trapper, Indian fighter, and legislator, is a remarkable man. He is a perfect horseman, an unerring shot, a man of magnificent presence and physique, ignorant of the meaning of fear or fatigue; his life is a history of hairbreadth escapes, and deeds of daring, generosity, and self-sacrifice, which compare very favourably with the chivalric actions of romance, and he has been not inappropriately designated the "Bayard of the Plains."

The third section comprises ornamental gardens and pleasure-grounds, which are approached from the West Kensington Station, from North End-road, and through the main building from West Brompton. They comprise twelve acres laid out in walks, flower gardens, and shrubberies; here are music pavilions, in which Mr. Dan. Godfrey and the band of the Grenadier Guards will give concerts twice daily, in the afternoon and evening; also several pavilions for refreshments, and some for special exhibits. In these gardens a display of American flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees will be made as complete as the London climate will allow.

A great variety of amusements will be provided, including a diorama of the Harbour of New York, designed by M. Bartholdi, the creator of the colossal statue of Liberty, a model of the switch-back railway, roller toboggans, and other appliances, and entertaining spectacles. In the evening, the Exhibition will be lighted by two hundred and fifty electric lights, each of two thousand actual candle-power, and nine huge search lights, each of ten thousand actual candle-power. It is wonderful to think of this picturesque and fairy-like park and buildings, created with magical quickness on a piece of waste land. And what will it be to see it at night, illuminated by lights equal to half a million of candles! The Exhibition will be opened in May, and it is intended to keep it open till Oct. 31. The hours of opening and closing, prices of admission, and the general regulations will be pretty nearly the same as those now familiar to the public at the South Kensington Exhibitions. (“The American Exhibition.” Illustrated London News (London, England), Saturday, April 16, 1887; pg. 440; Issue 2504, Cols. A and B)

From an account printed in the Army and Navy Magazine:
As regards the Exhibition itself, it would not be fair at present to criticise it. All the more important exhibits are not on show at present; the stalls are not ready to receive them; consequently, they remain in their ugly packing-cases. The nave, or central building, contains, or will contain, the general exhibits and machinery, and I hope, hereafter, to see some specimens of military guns and other weapons for which America has obtained so great a reputation. The few things that caught my eye on the opening day were a group of [201/202] very cleverly-stuffed bisons in First Street, as you descend from the entrance vestibule; but patent medicines and proprietary articles unquestionably carried the day. At one of Hygeia's Temples you read in large golden letters, "St. Jacob's Oil Conquers Pain." At another stall you are invited to accept a bottle of quinine pills, and assured by the donor that their ovoid shape renders them a pleasure to swallow; and when you inquire of him as to the advantages of the sugar-coated pills in the opposite stall, he politely informs you that the followers of Epicurus had long abandoned their use in favour of the ovoid pill. Madame Sapolio — a soap creation that Madame Tussaud might envy — is here to be seen with an expression of pleasure on her countenance, due to the facility with which she is able to get through her work with the aid of the soap she has named after herself. One gentleman was most anxious to sell the ladies his American embroidered boots, which he might very well have christened the "Minnie Palmer," M.P., M.S. Many other useful household articles caught my eye, including American clocks and watches, hand fire-grenades, canned goods, and trophies of agricultural implements. One case was devoted to the sale of flexible glass combs and ladies and gentlemen's neckties, made entirely of flexible glass. The educational maps are decidedly worth looking at, and might be introduced with advantage into the Board Schools — the vendor informing me that America was seventy-five years in advance of the old country in all matters appertaining to education, though evidently, in sanitary matters, our American cousin defers to us in that she has paid a high compliment to the leading London Sanitary Company, by having written up in large letters, "In cases of Sickness, I always use Jeyes' Disinfectants"; the result being that Buffalo Bill's camps, stables, and ranches are perfectly free from any unpleasant smell whatever. Messrs. Luby Brothers, the celebrated oculist opticians, have a stall where may be seen, amid a variety of eye-glasses, spectacles, &c, their Patent Self-adjusting Folder, called the "Comfort," with cork linings and flexible nose-pieces, avoiding all irritation of the nose. They are the most comfortable glasses I have ever worn, and will rapidly supersede the old-fashioned ones. The pianos are very handsome, but as to their intrinsic qualities I must reserve any notice until the hammering and noise of unpacking is over. The fine art gallery and American hunting trophies are a series of rooms that will attract general attention, and, later on, I hope to give a critical account of their contents. The Commissariat Department, under the skilled hands of Bertram & Co., promises to give every satisfaction. The gardens and the band [ink missing, but probably "band" and not "land."], when the fine weather fairly sets in, will afford endless enjoyment [en- 202/203 joyment], and I venture to believe that the two well-dressed "Boston gentlemen" will not find it necessary any longer, pour encourager les autres, to show the way on the tobogganing-slide: it will share the public patronage equally with the "Switch Back Railway." Given time and fair weather, the American Exhibition with the aid of the energetic Mr. Whitley and his executive officers, and the ubiquitous and polite Secretary, Mr. J. Gilmour Speed, will, in my opinion, prove an unquestionable success, for it certainly carries with it the best wishes of all Englishmen. (Furlough 201–203)

Kasson says,
The Wild West was a smash hit in London, and in fact the American Exhibition would have attracted little attention without it. The fair itself was a lackluster collection of displays such as a diorama of New York Harbor with a replica of the just-installed Statue of Liberty, a switchback railway and tobogganing slide, an exhibition of "Alimentary Products," a fine-arts gallery, and a hall of American hunting trophies, and it drew press notices that ranged from the halfhearted to the scornful. One newspaper proclaimed it a "ghastly failure," an "ill-sorted congeries of uninteresting trifles," while another reported that "the only things that caught our notice were the American Organ, which is very much in evidence [and] [sic] an elaborate stall for the vending of the 'Imperial Hair Regenerator.'"31 All accounts agreed that spectators rushed as quickly as possible from the Exhibition's formal opening ceremonies to the stadium where the Wild West was performed. The Wild West soon surpassed its sponsoring framework and took its place as a spectacle that needed no introduction and no apology. (Kasson 75–76)

In his Four National Exhibitions and Their Organiser, Charles Lowe describes the Welcome Club at the Exhibition:
Such, then, was the "Wild West" Show which formed one of the main features and attractions of the American Exhibition. But a review of these attractions would be incomplete without some reference to the "Welcome Club," which was another quite new departure in the mechanism of Exhibitions, and was in no slight degree contributory to the success of the one under consideration. This Club was the natural outcome of the Council of Welcome to which we have already alluded, and which took Mr. Whitley and his two nearest advisers, Mr. Applin and Mr. Pickard, nearly eight months to form. Certainly it was not only the most numerous, but also the most influential council of the kind that had ever been brought together in this country (see Supplement, p. 402); and it was in virtue of its influence that nearly all the members of the Royal Family, as well as the most distinguished peers of the realm, [87/88] had accepted Mr. Whitley's invitation to visit the Exhibition during its preparatory stage. Its functions were incorporated and continued in the "Welcome Club,"* which was housed in a snug and prettily-designed edifice of the rural villa type, facing the band-stand. Furnished with elegant comfort and decorated with taste, it consisted of five different rooms — dining-room, a large smoking-room, kitchen, &c., reception-room, and Royal Pavilion, which was built alongside of the Club House proper, and approached by a separate entrance.! Constituted like any other club, with an entrance fee, it was nevertheless discriminate in the election of its members, which numbered about 300, including some of the most distinguished men in London. Membership was confined to the sterner sex, but ladies were freely admitted as visitors; and thus, true to its title, the "Welcome Club" that year formed one of the brightest and most attractive social centres of the London season. The spring of hospitality was ever flowing there, and the pretty lawn in front of the Club House with its flowers, and shrubberies, and [88/89] summer seats — where its frequenters could sit, as in an exclusive opera-box, and listen to the strains of Dan Godfrey's band — formed the scene of some memorable garden-parties. One of these, at which about 600 guests were received by Mr. Whitley, assisted by Mr. Charles Wyndham, was really one of the "functions" of the season, and gave "Buffalo Bill" and "Red Shirt" an opportunity of hob-nobbing with princes, ambassadors, lords and ladies, legislators and literati, scientists and soldiers, travellers, actors, singers, and all the other suns and stars that constitute the social firmament.**

Well, then, it was such forms of popular recreation as the Exhibition Gardens, with their varied attractions of "Switchback Rail way" and "Tobogganing Slide," the "Wild West" Show, and [89/90] the "Welcome Club,"*** that were prospective to the mind of Mr. Whitley when he wrote during the earlier stages of his work: — "'America in Miniature' would not be complete without an effort to combine recreation with instruction. It is best in these matters to have as little hypocrisy as possible. Where one person cares for the exhibits, probably half a dozen prefer the agreeable accompaniments; nor can they be blamed for a taste so natural. We have, therefore, from the inception of our work, while bestowing every attention upon the technical and educational purposes of the Exhibition, been mindful of the necessity of providing such forms of legitimate recreation as shall conduce to render a visit to the 'Yankeries' entertaining as well as instructive; and these will include not only excellent music and cheerful surroundings, but many novelties not hitherto enjoyed by Europeans." (87–90)

The footnotes to this excerpt are as follows:


 * The Executive Committee of the Club was as follows: — Chairman, Lord Ronald Gower; Vice-Chairman, Mr. John E. Whitley; Members: — Mr. Vincent A. Applin, General Sir Henry de Bathe, Bart., Mr. E. N. Buxton, Sir Charles Clifford, Bart., Mr. Henry Irving, Dr. Morell Mackenzie, Colonel Moncrieff, Sir John Millais, Bart., E.A., Sir John Heron-Maxwell, Bart., Colonel Paget P. Mosley, Major Flood Page, Mr. J. H. Puleston, M.P., Sir David Salomons, Bart., Mr. Gilead Smith, Mr. Chas. Wyndham; Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. J. S. Jeans. (88)

! The "Welcome Club" was erected by Mr. J. C. Humphreys, of Knightsbridge, who also supplied considerable portions of the other Exhibition Buildings. (88)


 * The following were some of the guests: — The Prince and Princess Galatro Colonna, Viscount and Viscountess de Soveral and Mdlle. de Soveral, Count and Countess Telfener, Count and Countess di Miranda (Madame Christine Nilsson), Duke Grazioli, la Baronne de Adelsdorfer, Comtesse de la Baume, Baron von Buch, Donna Maria and Mdlle. Beati, Lord and Lady Lamington, Lady Dorothy and Miss Nevill, Lord Bramwell, Lord Ronald Gower, Lady Louisa Cunningham, Lord Alfred Paget, Lord Northbrook, Lady Scarborough, Lady Macpherson Grant, Lord and Lady Rothschild, Lady and Miss Hardy, Sir Charles Mills, Sir Charles Clifford, Lady and Miss Clifford, Sir John and Lady Heron-Maxwell, Sir Arthur Otway, Lady and Miss Monckton, Sir Victor and Lady Houlton, Sir Astley Cooper and Miss Cooper, Sir J. J. and Lady Coghill, Sir Philip and Lady Cunliffe-Owen, Governor Waller and Mrs. Waller, Hon. Mrs. Ashley Ponsonby and Miss Ponsonby, Mrs. Mackay, Mrs. Jeune, Mr., Mrs., and Miss Goschen, Hon. Mrs. Spencer Cowper, Mr. Henry Labouchere, M.P., Mr. Justin McCarthy, M.P., Mr. Henry Kimber, M.P., Dr. and Mrs. Morell Mackenzie, Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Alexander, Major Flood Page, Major and Mrs. Malet, Colonel Cody, Mr. G. E. Sims, Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. and Miss Applin, Mr. and Mrs, J. Priestman, Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Jeans, &c., &c. (89)


 * In addition to all these public attractions and facilities the Exhibition enjoyed the advantage of a Post Office of its own, this building (as Mr. T. W. Angell, Postmaster S.W. District, informed Mr. Whitley), which was also utilised for the succeeding Exhibitions, being the model subsequently used by the authorities for small Post Offices in all parts of the British possessions. (90)

From the perspective of Jack Yeats's experience, this description of the Olympia Building shows that it was built the year before the American Exhibition:
The Grand Hall at Olympia stood conveniently close to Eardley Crescent, just a three-minute walk along Warwick Road. It was an indoor stadium, first opened in 1886. As well as providing space for lavish military tournaments and reviews, spectaculars which became a mainstay of its entertainment for the next hundred years, the hall was also a place for circuses and other entertainments, 'rational healthy amusement for the people, to reinvigorate by brilliant demonstrations the natural love of athletic exercises and contests of skill; to raise the tone of popular taste by entertainments and displays. . . of the purest and highest character; to educate. . . by exhibitions of art. . .'[7] These represent all the things that Jack Yeats loved at that time. More seriously, they also embrace the subject-matter of his early work as a professional artist. Olympia was huge. Designed by the architect, Henry E. Coe, on a truly grand scale, its greatest feature was the roof, built of glass, zinc and iron, and spanning 170 feet to a height of over 100 feet (fig. 31). It covered three and a half acres. And the lighting was electric. It opened in 1886 with the Paris Hippodrome Circus. Queen Victoria visited, beginning a royal family involvement with Olympia lasting for a century. And she came back for more of the same light-hearted stuff when Buffalo Bill arrived for the first time in the summer of 1887.

The Buffalo Bill Cody show attracted enormous attention, and continued in performance at Olympia for almost twenty years (fig. 32). The first appearance of Cody was treated with utmost seriousness. (Bruce Arnold. Jack Yeats. Pp. 33-34)

Besides the show itself, the Wild West had concessions and merchandise. Bol quotes Cody's own description of the "Wild West" concessions:
A London newspaper reported on Buffalo Bill's Wild West show concession in 1887: "Cigar stands, soda fountains, Indian curiosity stores and photograph stands, the latter sometimes selling 1,000 a day, the greatest number being of Buffalo Bill, and the next of Red Shirt — a wonderfully fine-faced Indian" (Cody 1887). (Bol 218)

The Lakota family of John Y. Nelson exemplifies the connections between performance, commodification, and collecting. The Nelsons traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for more than ten years beginning in 1883 (Secrest 1969: 62). A body of distinctive beadwork can be traced to the women in the family, who were photographed several times wearing examples of their work, in particular, a fully beaded dress (fig. 13-3). The mother, Jenny Nelson, was an Oglala who had married John, an Anglo-American who lived most of his life with the Lakota. he both acted as interpreter and performed as the Deadwood stagecoach driver in the shows. The beaded dress seen in the photograph is related to a small girl's fully beaded dress and a boy's fully beaded shirt, both of which were donated to Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History in 1893, the year of the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. All three pieces share a similar design, featuring a blue field with characteristic bands of alternative units of color. (Bol 218)

Cody reprinted the "very flattering" paragraph about himself from the 16 April 1887 Illustrated London News article "The American Exhibition"
A large covered bridge, crossing the railway, leads eastward to the grounds near Earl's Court Station, where will be located 'Buffalo Bill's' Wild West Exhibition. The preparations for the reception of this unique entertainment have been very extensive; they were made under the supervision of Major J. M.. Burke, the general manager of the 'Wild West.' The track is over one-third of a mile in circumference, and within this is the arena. It is flanked by a grand stand filled with seats and boxes, which will accommodate twenty thousand persons. Standing room under shelter is provided for over ten thousand more, and this, with the spectators in the open, will give a good view of the entertainment to about forty thousand people. A large hill has been thrown up of earth and rocks; and on this, amidst a grove of newly-planted trees, will be the encampment of the Indians, the 'cowboys,' and scouts. At the other side of the grounds are extensive stables for the broncho horses and mules, and a corral for the buffaloes, antelopes, elk, and other wild animals. This remarkable exhibition, the 'Wild West,' has created a furore in America, and the reason is easy to understand. It is not a circus, nor indeed is it acting at all, in a theatrical sense; but an exact reproduction of daily scenes in frontier life, as experienced and enacted by the very people who now form the 'Wild West' company. It comprises Indian life, 'cowboy' life, Indian fighting, and burning Indian villages, lassoing and breaking in wild horses, shooting, feats of strength, and border athletic games and sports. It could only be possible for such a remarkable undertaking to be carried out by a remarkable man: and the Hon. W. F. Cody, known as 'Buffalo Bill,' guide, scout, hunter, trapper, Indian fighter, and legislator, is a remarkable man. He is a perfect horseman, an unerring shot, a man of magnificent presence and physique, ignorant of the meaning of fear or fatigue; his life is a history of hairbreadth escapes, and deeds of daring, generosity, and self-sacrifice, which compare very favorably with the chivalric actions of romance, and he has been not inappropriately designated the 'Bayard of the Plains.' (Cody 719–720)

Animals in the Show

 * Horses
 * Mules
 * Mustangs
 * Buffalo
 * Antelope
 * Elk