FairsNashville 1897

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

1897 · Nashville, United States

Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition

Dates: 1 May – 31 Oct 1897
Site: Centennial Park
Declared purpose: A fair for Tennessee's 100 years of statehood, held a year late.
Fate: The full-size Parthenon was rebuilt in concrete in 1920–31 and still stands. The rest was demolished.
Architect of record: William Crawford Smith, architect: about 58 when credited (1895, born 1837). Build time on record: about 2 years (1895–97).All architects of record →

Hidden history

Found, Not Built

A full-size Parthenon, with a pyramid next to it. Nashville's fair mixed Greece and Egypt, and the Parthenon is the one people wouldn't let go.

Rebuilt, not replaced
The recorded account says the 1897 Parthenon was plaster that crumbled, so it was rebuilt in concrete. Researchers ask what the 1897 structure really was, and why it was copied so exactly.
Greece and Egypt side by side
A Parthenon and a pyramid on the same grounds. It's a pairing that turns up in other old-world research too.