Shadows of SplendorThe world came to Omaha in 1898 and witnessed an elaborate display Story by Jeff Barnes |
 |
 |
|
Slideshow: |
|
I'VE TRIED TO REMEMBER when I first heard of Omaha’s world fair or, more officially, the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition of 1898.
I’m almost certain it was a Nebraska history course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the 1970s. I still have the textbook, James C. Olson’s History of Nebraska. On page 255 there’s a photo showing the spectacular midway of the expo with ornate, classical, columned buildings flanking a beautiful lagoon. Flags are flying everywhere. It seems to go on for blocks, maybe a mile.
In Olson’s textbook account, President William McKinley pushed a button in Washington to start the machinery of the expo. McKinley even came to see the wonder of it all himself. More than 2.6 million visitors came during the summer of 1898, and many lingered in the evenings to witness the novelty of thousands of incandescent lights.
With a place like this that rivaled views of Paris or Rome, one wonders, “Why did they ever tear it down?”
More than 110 years after the expo’s closing, I wanted to know what was left of Nebraska’s greatest show.
THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION was constructed in northeast Omaha between downtown and Fort Omaha on what had been farm ground meant for real estate development. Herman Kountze, a banker, owned the development, but lots were not selling.
Kountze struck a deal with the expo’s board, allowing them to use the land free of charge with improvements becoming his after the expo. As a result, Kountze Place had the water, sewer and gas connections it needed to become a successful development.
After the expo, homes for the well-to-do were built on the grounds with two of the six blocks of the midway and its lagoon becoming a city park.
I found that the park still remains, but what became of the expo buildings?
Though ornate, beautiful and inspiring, the buildings were constructed quickly and cheaply of green wood and plaster. After the expo, they were dismantled and sold. Those ornate buildings were never intended to be permanent.
Though the expo buildings were temporary in nature, the expo’s purpose was meant to be lasting. The nation was coming out from a financial depression in the late 1890s, and Omaha city leaders wanted to show the rest of the world that this part of America had rebounded. They also wanted the world to know that Omaha was a major city in the growth of the American West.
Omaha continues to be a city of growth, but Kountze Place neighborhood has slipped. Now lower-income housing surrounds the park. Other than a handful of historical markers, there are few visible reminders of the Trans-Miss on its original site.
I would have to search elsewhere to get a sense of the Trans-Miss.
