Investigate · Nashville 1897

Tennessee Centennial Exposition 1897 (LOC ppmsca.03354)

1 clue in this photo

1Impossible timeline · whole photo

A whole classical town in a bird's-eye view

The bird's-eye lithograph shows dozens of large buildings spread across landscaped grounds, with lakes, drives and stands of full trees. The record centres it on a full-size Parthenon, later rebuilt in concrete after the 1897 version 'crumbled'.

The questionHow was a site this size built, and a full-size Parthenon cast, within about a year?

Photo: Henderson Litho. Co · Public domain · via Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons

Nashville 1897 Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

#7Impossible timeline · Chicago 1893The iron arches, with three people in sightWhy is a 'construction' photo dated during the fair, and how was a span like this put up in the time recorded?

Impossible timeline · London 18511,850 feet of iron and glass in about nine monthsHow many men, carts and horses would it take to cast, haul and raise thousands of matching iron parts that quickly, and where are the photos of that work?

Impossible timeline · Philadelphia 1876The 1,880-foot Main BuildingWith horses and horsecars as the heavy transport, how was this length of iron and glass raised in two years?

Impossible timeline · Paris 1889A moving gallery over a vast iron spanWhy build a hall this strong only to take it down two decades later?

Impossible timeline · Atlanta 1895A city of palaces in a recovering townWhere are the quarry and mill records for the fair's buildings?

Impossible timeline · Omaha 1898A Chicago-scale court in a prairie cityHow did a city that size supply the crews, materials and horses for a court like this?

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