World’s FairsFound, not built?
Buffalo 1901Investigate

Investigate · Buffalo 1901

Pan-American Exposition - New York State Building

Pan-American Exposition - New York State Building
2 clues in this photo

1Weathering

Mature trees around the survivor

The New York State Building sits among fully grown trees across the lake. It survives today as the Buffalo History Museum.

The questionWas the park landscape older than the fair, and was the building too?

2Other details

Permanent: what was built, or what was kept?

The record says the marble building was the only one planned to stay, and it is the only one that did.

The questionDoes the 'permanent vs. temporary' line track how things were built, or only what was kept?

Photo: C. D. Arnold · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Buffalo 1901Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

Weathering · Philadelphia 1876Dark streaks on the surviving corniceHow long does weathering like this take, and does any of it predate 1876?Weathering · Chicago 1893Mature trees on a former swampHow do you get a mature woodland on a swamp in two years?Weathering · Chicago 1893An established lawn and potted palmsWas the ground freshly made, or already settled?Weathering · Nashville 1897A weathered grotto overgrown with vinesHow does a grotto look this overgrown at a fair that had just opened?Weathering · Omaha 1898Young, thin trees: a contrary detailIf the planting was new, was the ground new too, or was an older site cleared and replanted?Weathering · St. Louis 1904Full canopy along the Grand BasinHow many mature trees were moved, and from where?

All clues others missed →