America at the Fair Read online

  The demand from American and foreign manufacturers for space to exhibit their products far exceeded availability. It would take volumes to describe adequately the immense range of goods that were actually on display in the Manufactures Building; instead, this chapter will focus on the growth of selected American industries such as the timepieces, jewelry, office equipment, textiles, and machinery.

  Clocks and Watches

  The famed alabaster Clock Tower stood inside the main entrance to the Manufactures Building. This great symbol of American clock making was 140 feet tall on a 40-foot base, with a clock face seven feet in diameter and nine chiming bells. The clock was the work of the Self-Winding Clock Company of New York. The company was owned by Western Union, which had an agreement with the U.S. Naval Observatory to synchronize standard time. Using a telegraph signal, all 15,000 electrically operated self-winding clocks sold to the railroads, government offices, and schools across the land kept the same time. In addition to its Clock Tower, the Self-Winding Clock Company had a separate pavilion to display its standard clocks and regulators.

  Many clock makers were at work in the American colonies. Best known among them was Benjamin Willard (1743–1803) from the village of Grafton, Massachusetts. Young Benjamin learned his craft from a Connecticut watchmaker and then moved to Boston with his brothers to build clocks. The Willards are respected as the first family of American clock making. After 1850, craftsmanship gave way to the factory method and mass production. One of the exhibitors at the Fair was the Waltham Watch Company, which had its start in Boston in 1853. The company later moved 10 miles west to Waltham, where it built a five-story redbrick building employing 2,500 workmen. By 1890, Waltham Watch was the world’s leader in railroad clocks as well as watches. Waltham demonstrated “what is known as the American system of watch manufacture, whereby machinery is used for the work which was formerly done by hand” (Bancroft 1893). The Waltham exhibit showed over 2,000 time pieces. The Ansonia Clock Company, founded in 1877, was named for Anson G. Phelps of Connecticut. Phelps was humbly born but rose to become a leading exporter of Southern cotton to England. From cotton, Phelps moved to brass making and then to clocks. In 1883 Ansonia Clock left Connecticut for Brooklyn, New York, with sales offices in London and Chicago. Ansonia was at its peak at the time of the Fair, making over 200 different clock models and watches. The Waterbury Watch Company was established in 1880, selling popular and cheaper watches. The Connecticut company hired H. W. Hartwell of Boston, the architect of the Waltham factory, to design its new watch factory. The company read the market well and the business boomed. Waterbury Watch had an impressive pavilion at the 1893 Fair. In addition to its range of watches, the company displayed its Century Clock, built especially for the Fair. This clock stood 20 feet tall with a dial that told the time, day, month, and year, as well as the tides and the phases of the moon. After the Civil War, these northeastern companies faced competition from the Midwest, as Columbus and Cleveland in Ohio, and Elgin, Peru, and Chicago in Illinois, became clock and watch towns. The Elgin Watch Company was formed in 1864 by a partnership of machinery and expertise from Waltham, money from Chicago businessmen, and land for the factory donated by the city of Elgin.3

  Jewelry, Silverware, and Cut Glass

  The early jewelry, silver work, glassware, and furniture made in America were copies of European styles. Jabez Gorham, born in 1792, was a fifth generation New Englander whose ancestors landed in Plymouth in 1621. Gorham, while still in his teens, was apprenticed to Nehemiah Dodge, a silversmith in Providence (Carpenter 1982). At the end of his indentures, Gorham opened his own store selling jewelry and silver spoons that he made. In the 19th century a distinct American silversmithing style was evolving, catering both to the luxury and the popular markets. Gorham Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island, became one of America’s leading silversmiths. Gorham had a large exhibit at the Chicago Fair, with a full-sized statue of Christopher Columbus made with 30,000 troy ounces of silver, at that time the largest silver sculpture in the world. Gorham shared a pavilion with Tiffany & Company at the center of the Manufactures Building, but Tiffany’s section was the more glittering. The company was founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812–1902), the son of a Connecticut cotton mill owner. At age 25 he moved to New York and opened a stationery store. From this humble beginning he moved into luxury merchandise including gold and diamond jewelry, silverware, clocks, and watches.

  The 140-foot tall Watch Tower stood in the Manufactures Building, close to the main entrance. It was erected by the Self-Winding Clock Company of New York, a subsidiary of Western Union.

  Tiffany & Company on Union Square, New York, established its reputation as the purveyor of luxury goods to wealthy Americans of the Gilded Age. The magnificent Tiffany & Company exhibit at the Fair displayed diamond necklaces, silver tankards, silver sailing trophies, and revolvers with elegant silver mountings on the handle and barrel. Tiffany gold and diamond jewelry, silver pitchers, cut glass, vases, clocks, watches, souvenir spoons, and cutlery were also featured in the exhibit. Three strands of rare oriental pearls valued at $385,000 (in 1893 dollars) were prominently displayed, together with a fanciful tiara, pendant, and necklace-set containing a total of 1,722 diamonds and 105 pink topazes. A priceless 125-carat single canary-yellow diamond was also displayed. Altogether $3 million worth of jewelry, pearls, windows, and silverware were included in the spectacular Tiffany display.4

  With the development of electroplating in 1846, the city of Providence, along with nearby Attleboro and Taunton in Massachusetts, became centers for costume jewelry made with silver plate and semi-precious stones. The Connecticut town of Meriden was the home of the Meriden Britannia Company (founded in 1852). Britannia metal, 92 percent tin, 6 percent antimony, and 2 percent copper, was extensively used as the base metal for silver plated tableware and drinking vessels. Meriden Britannia won awards at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and was present in 1893 in Chicago. The company grew by acquisitions but in 1898 it was absorbed with 20 other companies to form the International Silver Company. These companies opened a mass market by offering the look of silver at a low price.

  The New England Glass Company opened for business in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1818. The company specialized in colored and engraved glassware. During the 1870s New England Glass was increasingly threatened by competition from the new Midwest companies, which were benefiting from low labor and fuel costs. In 1883 the owner, Edward R. Libbey, moved his glass company to Toledo, Ohio. The Libbey Glass Company had its own pavilion at the Fair, where visitors could observe the craft of glass blowing and etching and buy souvenirs made on the spot.

  The Ansonia Clock Company, founded in 1851, grew out of the brass industry of Ansonia, Connecticut. In 1878, the watch company moved to Brooklyn. In 1930 the plant closed and the machinery was shipped to the Soviet Union to start a watch factory there.

  The Pairpoint Glass Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts, had a display at the World’s Fair. This company had its start in 1825, when Deming Jarvis left New England Glass to start his own business, the Mount Washington Glass Company. In 1869, Mount Washington Glass moved from Boston to the old whaling port of New Bedford. Fifteen years later, Mount Washington Glass merged with Thomas J. Pairpoint’s company to establish the Pairpoint Glass Company.

  Many of the foreign nations in the Manufactures Building included collections of decorative art in their exhibition areas. The pavilion of Siam displayed its pearls and inlaid woods. Italy had an extensive display of cameos, silks, and tapestries. The Belgians showed their decorated handkerchiefs, the Venetians their glassware, and the English firms Royal Doulton Worcester, Minton, Copeland, and Wedgwood boldly presented their chinaware. The Germans displayed some of the elaborate gifts given in homage to their chancellor and to their kaiser, and the Swiss displayed their watches. Visitors could admire the finest of European and Asian craftsmanship and appreciate the advances in style and workmanship of the American g
oods. Luxury houses like Tiffany and Pairpoint Glass still employed the skills of the craftsman, but elsewhere standardized machine work was rapidly replacing human skills.

  The Waltham Watch Company started in 1853. President Abraham Lincoln owned a Waltham pocket watch. In 1864, key members of the Massachusetts company moved to the Midwest to start the Elgin Watch Company, which grew larger than its parent.

  Silk, Cotton, Wool, Machinery, and Textiles

  American determination to compete against Britain in textile manufacture had its start in January 1789 with the founding of the New York Manufacturing Society. Alexander Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury, was an early investor in a proposed wool mill in lower Manhattan. This scheme failed because of insufficient water power to drive the machinery. Two years later Hamilton gave his support to The Society for Establishing Useful Manufacturers (SEUM). This society planned to establish a manufacturing town at the Great Falls on the Passaic River in New Jersey. Here, the falls plunge seventy feet into a gorge and offered the necessary water power for a textile industry. They named the town Paterson after the New Jersey governor, William Paterson.

  The hopes for Paterson were dashed when William Duer, one of the directors of SEUM, embezzled its funds, and in 1796, the society was forced to sell its cotton mill and abandon its plans for a diversified industrial town on the Passaic River (Chernow 2004). The War of 1812 and the Tariff of 1816 reduced the flow of British textiles and helped the mills at Paterson. After the Civil War, Paterson shifted from cotton and wool and began to attract skilled silk workers from Europe, an industry introduced to the West from China and Japan. Silk weaving for neckties, handkerchiefs, headbands, bookmarks, and labels came to dominate the industry and Paterson was known as “Silk City.” By the end of the 19th century, Paterson had 120 silk firms employing over 20,000 workers. Several Paterson silk companies, John Best & Company, Allen Chesters, Warner Manufacturing Company, and the Phoenix Silk Manufacturing Company, were represented at the 1893 World’s Fair and set up looms to mass-produce souvenirs for sale. Silk bookmarks and handkerchiefs depicting the landing of Columbus in the New World, the bald eagle, and the American flag were especially popular.5

  At the time that Alexander Hamilton was planning America’s industrial future along the banks of the Passaic River in New Jersey, Moses Brown was attempting a similar venture in the village of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, along the course of the Blackstone River. Brown had the great good fortune to come into contact with Samuel Slater, a 22-year-old Englishman who arrived in the United States in 1790. Slater had several years’ experience in England with the latest in textile machinery and was able to build a copy of Richard Arkwright’s waterwheel to power Moses Brown’s small mill. For this achievement, Slater is known as “The Father of the American Industrial Revolution.” In due course other small mills with waterwheels were built in Rhode Island and Massachusetts along the banks of the Blackstone. The War of 1812 convinced a group of Boston merchants to take American textile manufacturing to the stage of mass production. Led by Francis Cabot Lowell, these Boston men financed a large mill at the falls on the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts. The success of the Boston Manufacturing Company encouraged grander schemes including the textile towns of Lowell (named for Francis Cabot Lowell), Lawrence (named for Abbott Lawrence), and Manchester along the Merrimack River, and others along the Saco River in Maine, and in Chicopee, Massachusetts, using the power of the Connecticut River. New England became the textile center of the United States, aided by a series of tariffs that kept British imports in check.

  Despite profound differences over slavery between the New England states and the cotton-growing South, the two regions enjoyed a healthy trade in antebellum America. In 1835 over 80,000 bales of Southern cotton came into Boston harbor to supply the textile mills. By 1844 Southern cotton shipments into Boston had more than doubled to over 175,000 bales (Howard 1846). In return, New England sent its low quality textiles and shoes to clothe the black slaves. The Civil War was a further boost to the New England textile industry, which supplied uniforms and blankets for the Union troops. When whale oil was replaced by petroleum, the towns of New Bedford and Fall River also became textile towns. Boston became a world class center for raw cotton and wool and the export of finished cloth from the textile factories.

  The Civil War disrupted the flow of cotton and manufactured goods between the North and South. American cotton production recovered quickly after the war, and by 1884 the New Orleans Cotton Exchange and 270 local cotton mills were handling one-third of the nation’s production, and the city was again a major port for export. From December 1884 to the end of May 1885, the revitalized New Orleans staged the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, celebrating 100 years since cotton was first exported to England. Scandal and corruption marred the fair when director Edward A. Burke absconded to Brazil, taking with him one-and-a-half million dollars. Despite its money troubles, over six million people attended the cotton fair held in Audubon Park.

  One of the new products that gained popularity at the time of the 1893 Fair was Cottolene, derived from the oil-rich seeds of the cotton boll. For centuries, animal fats such as lard and butter were used in frying. Clever marketing convinced the American public that Cottolene should be used as a healthier and cheaper substitute for lard. Cottolene was sold in one, three, and five pound containers, did not need refrigeration, and had a long shelf-life. N.K. Fairbank & Company of Chicago, sporting the colors of red and white, was the producer of Cottolene, labeling it the best cooking fat for shortening and frying. Fairbank & Company carried the popularity of Cottolene well into the 20th century until it was overtaken by margarines and other vegetable oils—all claiming to be better for health.6

  In 1890 the United States cotton crop exceeded 3.6 billion pounds. Most of this was exported to the textile mills in England, with one-third of the crop sent by rail or ship to the textile mills of New England. British textile technology (including Richard Arkwright’s water frame, James Hargreaves’s spinning jenny, and the Reverend Cartwright’s power loom) gave that nation a commanding lead in textile manufacture, but high tariffs were increasingly keeping British textiles and machinery out of the American market (Bancroft 1893). British cotton textiles sent to the United States fell from £3.75 million in 1882 to £2.35 million in 1891. Imports of British woolen and silk products barely increased from 1882 to 1891. With American textiles and textile machinery on the rise the British were determined to have a strong presence at the Chicago Fair with over 70 companies represented. These included Collinson & Lock silk goods; Barlow & Jones cotton weavers; and Apperly, Curtis & Company, makers of woolen goods. Britain’s reputation for fine cloths was supported by Cartwright & Warner, makers of men’s and women’s clothing, and by Lincoln, Bennett Company of Piccadilly, the maker of riding hats and military helmets. British textile machinery was represented by Brindle, Reads & Taylor power looms and Stevens, Thomas Company silk machinery. The British were eager to increase their exports at the luxury end as they were being squeezed out by American mass-production methods (Royal Commission for the Chicago Exhibit 1893).

  The sweatshops of New York and Philadelphia had long fashioned New England–made textiles into clothing. Now the clothing industry was expanding rapidly to the Midwest. In St. Louis, the Schwab Clothing Company had moved production out of the tenement houses into a modern, well lighted, seven-story building on Washington Street between Tenth and Eleventh Streets. The Schwab brothers, Jacob, Isaac, and Max, represented the entry of foreign-born entrepreneurs into the former Yankee business of American textiles and clothing.

  The Meriden Britannia Company was founded in 1852 in Meriden, Connecticut. In 1898 the company joined some 25 others to form International Silver Company. Britannia metal is a pewter-like alloy made of 93 percent tin, 5 percent antimony, and 2 percent copper. The Oscar statuettes given annually as Academy Awards are made from Britannia alloy coated with gold.

  William Cluett
was an English-born bookseller who moved to Troy, New York, and in 1851 started a collar and cuff manufacturing company. The 3,000-employee company later added Monarch brand shirts.

  Sewing Machines, Thread, Yarn, and Spools

  The Singer Manufacturing Company had a large presence at the World’s Columbian Exposition. The company displayed its household sewing machines in the Manufactures Building, its commercial sewing machines in the Machinery Building, and its machines for leather work in the Leather and Shoe Trades Building, occupying in all over 9,000 square feet of floor space. Singer issued a special series of 36 trade cards to be given out at the Fair. Each card showed a Singer sewing machine at work in different countries making the national dress. In the Manufactures Building, 10 young women demonstrated the various designs that could be achieved with Singer machines. The Singer exhibit was built to resemble an elegant house with reception rooms and bedrooms, filled with curtains, drapes, tapestries, linens, and clothing, all fashioned on Singer machines. By 1890, Singer was by far the largest sewing machine company in the world, with factories in Elizabeth Port, New Jersey; Cairo, Illinois; and South Bend, Indiana. Singer also had large factories in Scotland, Austria, and Canada, and sales offices in all major cities. Singer had become a household name the world over.