Before the Midwinter: part 5
Bradley & Rulofson portrait of Anson Burlingame and the Chinese Embassy, 1868. Image courtesy of California State Library.
The Committee of Ways and Means of the California State Assembly was on the cusp of recommending a grant of $10,000, but at “the last moment....parties totally unauthorized by the [Mechanics’ Institute] struck it out of the Appropriation Bill…giving [Mechanics’ Institute] no opportunity to correct the misrepresentation.”[i] With plans for funding thus dashed, the Mechanics’ Institute had to scale back its plans and host its usual, locally focused fair.
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The Fair of 1869 Tries Again
Once the 1868 fair was over, the Institute was relieved to discover that the debt they had incurred for the construction of its new fair pavilion at Union Square was largely paid off but there were still bills to pay related to the Institute’s library and headquarters on Post Street. Hallidie felt the fiscal pressure and convinced the board it was expedient to host another fair. He felt the impending completion of the transcontinental railroad was reason enough, stating to the membership on March 4, 1869; “now that we are about to be united with our Eastern brethren by the iron bands of the Pacific Railroad, let us invite them to come and see for themselves what we are doing here on the western shore of North America, by concentrating our industries in the Pavilion of our Seventh Fair, making it also an industrial celebration of the completed Railroad.”[ii]
The time was ripe to celebrate these advances in transportation but Hallidie was not ready to give up on the idea of inviting the world. He sent invitations to media outlets in China, Japan, British Columbia, the Hawaiian Islands, Mexico, Chile, and Peru that described the upcoming fair and encouraged participation. To sweeten the deal and remove any barriers, he mentioned that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had offered to ship items from the countries on their route for free.
By May, encouraging news of foreign participation was coming in via the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s steamer China that now regularly journeyed the Pacific from Hong Kong, Yokohama, and San Francisco. The Shanghai News-Letter “warmly seconded” Hallidie’s views on the “effect which the completion of the Pacific Railroad will have on American Asiatic trade,” and added that the forthcoming exhibition “will be of material interest to the people of China.”[iii]
When opening day of the fair arrived, the ceremony on September 14 was described as “animated and brilliant.”[iv] It was marked with a welcome speech by Andrew Hallidie who apologized for the unfinished displays, and a rousing talk by Irving Scott, the head of the Union Iron Works that was full of “brilliant thoughts and eloquent words”[v] about the glory in store for California’s industry. After his address an earnest call was made for William Seward, who was the guest of honor due to his hand in acquiring Alaska, to rise and speak. As the audience roared with applause and leant in to hear what he might say, Mr. Seward blanched. He was uncomfortable speaking in public due to an injury incurred from a carriage accident and knife attack four years earlier but managed a bow before returning to his seat. Then much to his relief, Hallidie interceded, “We have nothing now to do but to declare the Fair opened!”[vi] The great steam whistle then sounded that signaled to the crowd the official opening of the fair.[vii]
William Seward (1801-1872). Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Many of the fair’s displays were late in being set up – particularly those from foreign lands and those that did arrive were disappointingly small in size. Nevertheless the resident San Francisco Chinese merchants and artists helped fill in the gaps. The mercantile firm Wan Yune Lung Kee headquartered on Commercial Street, created an admirable display of lamps, scales, teas, Chinese flowers, ornaments, medicines, and other fancy articles;[viii] and artist Lai Yong exhibited a few painted portraits that were described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “tolerably good, but rather Chinese in style.”[ix] Other artists presented pieces on Asian themes: Thomas Houseworth exhibited several views of Japanese locales and a whole album of Chinese vistas; and the firm Bradley & Rulofson offered a photograph of the Chinese Embassy that visited San Francisco in March of 1868 under the escort of Anson Burlingame.[x]
Aside from the foreign exhibits, the highlight of the 1869 fair was the Pullman Palace Car Orleans on display in a room of its own off the main Pavilion. It arrived in San Francisco via Sacramento and San José to the foot of Stockton Street and was hauled to Union Square over a temporary track to the Pavilion.
On the forty-first night of a record long fair, Andrew Hallidie mounted the steps of the raised platform constructed in the Pavilion for the closing ceremonies. When the bell rang that signaled the start, he beamed at the sea of people, who had gathered to watch and listen. With a deep breath, he welcomed everyone and proceeded with his prepared remarks; a summary of positive statistics of San Francisco’s industrial progress that was sprinkled with his trademark humor. With his heart full he said, “[San Francisco] may view well with pride the productions of her children, and bring this display of their skill and industry as the best evidence of her worth. But San Francisco has many things to learn. She must pursue a just policy, tempered with liberty, to all classes, whether from Europe, Asia, or Africa.”[xi]
While the coordination of the international aspects could have been better, the fair was a resounding success. Its best single day featured an unbelievable 22,000 visitors; in total there were likely about 500,000 attendees.[xii] Its receipts were handsome enough to allow the Institute to pay off half its mortgage on the Post Street property.[xiii]
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[i] Report of the Board of Managers of the Sixth Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute of the City of San Francisco; 1868; Women’s Cooperative Union Print; p.5-8.
[ii] Andrew Smith Hallidie, “Thirteenth Annual Address to the Mechanics’ Institute by A.S. Hallidie, Esq., President, Delivered at their Rooms March 4, 1869”, Spaulding & Barto; 1869., Pages 3-12.
[iii] “China and Japan”, Daily Alta California, Volume 21, Number 7002, 21 May 1869,
[iv] “Telegraphic special to the Daily Appeal: San Francisco News”, Marysville Daily Appeal, September 16, 1869, Page 3.
[v] “Opening of the Mechanics’ Fair”, California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, September 16, 1869, Page 4.
[vi] “Mechanics’ Fair Institute [sic]: Opening Day”, San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 1869, Page: 3
[vii] “Letter from San Francisco”, Marysville Daily Appeal, September 17, 1869, Page 1.
[viii] “Industrial Exhibition of the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute”, Sacramento Daily Union, September 18, 1869, page 5.
[ix] “Mechanics’ Institute Fair, Ninth Day”, San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 1869, Page 3.
[x] Report of the Board of Managers of the Seventh Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute of the City of San Francisco, 1869, Page 75.
[xi] Andrew Smith Hallidie, “Remarks of President Hallidie”, reprinted in “Mechanics’ Institute Fair, Forty First Night, and the Last”, Weekly Alta California, November 06, 1869, Page 8
[xii] “A steamer just arrived…”, American Artisan, July 26, 1871, page 53.
[xiii] Andrew Smith Hallidie, “Remarks of President Hallidie”, reprinted in “Mechanics’ Institute Fair, Forty First Night, and the Last”, Weekly Alta California, November 06, 1869, Page 8
