Soon after the
end of last year's Horse Show, a magazine, "Horse
Show Monthly" eulogized the show. The
horses and Fairmount park were touted for public
interest. "The Fairmount Riding and
Coaching Club" was organized. Its goal was
to bring equestrianism to the natives. To accommodate,
the athletic field was again the object of much
construction. The bluff to the east (Sterling
Ave to Sterling Terrace and Lake St.) was linked by a
wide, rustic wooden bridge, where the riding school
and stables were built. An oval track for
driving and riding horses was surrounded by a larger
bicycle track that went under the bridge, giving the
amphitheater dual roles. Horse school lessons
included tandem, coach, and carriage driving.
Hurdling, polo, and other riding sports were
practiced. For amusement, egg and spoon races,
umbrella and cigar races and an obstacle driving range
were added. For a small fee a horse could be
quartered at the stables or "house" horses
were rented to the public by the hour.
The 6th glorious
season began on Sunday, May 9th. The new 25
piece Fairmount String Orchestra, under the direction
of Mr. H. O. Wheeler of last year's third regimen
band, held concerts every Sunday at 3:30 P.M.
Both the park and the hotel's cafes were now under the
management of Mrs. Emma Mills, with her specialties of
fruits, ices, delicacies, and fine meats. The
month ended with the park's first felony. A 17
year old boy was shot by a lady who lived at the athletic
field with her child and husband. The lung wound
was not fatal, but it wasn't for the lack of
trying.
Early June was the
second annual Chautauqua invade from the 1st to the
12th. A lot of the newness was gone, but for
those in attendance it was still spiritually
rewarding. As soon as the summer school pulled
out things got back to normal, i.e., much fun.
At the theater, Vitascope was replaced by the next
generation of movie technology, Magniscope, which was
soon replaced by a more familiar name,
Cinematography. It was still a 10 cent admission
charge.
To usher in the third
season of the auditorium, two free concerts were given
by the Pickaninny Band on June 13th at 3:30 and again
at 8:00 P.M., on a warm Sunday. Twenty-five
Black musicians and the Slayton Jubilee Singers sang
plantation music. The next day Vaudeville
returned. It, too, had evolved. Short
skits had replaced longer plays, due in part to the
influence of the moving picture. At a time when
a laboring person might make $20 a week, top drawer
actors sometimes could make $300 to $500 a week.
This brought many from the big shows back east to
Fairmount Park. "Any Seat in the House 25
Cents."
Gold coin was the
carrot, the stick was the railroads, who also owned a
piece of the parks. Everything was in readiness
for the National Bicycle Races, held on Saturday of
the following weekend at the amphitheater.
Cracks (professional bike riders) from across the
country were entered. Last week they were in St.
Louis and next week they will be in Omaha,
Nebraska. A rivalry between the amateurs of St.
Louis and Kansas City developed; the locals getting waxed. Two Independence men, D. D. Dunkin
and B. F. Wallace, entered the amateur one mile race,
but didn't win. A novelty of the races this year
was a quadricycle, a four person bike that did a
pretty good mile.
America's 121st
birthday came on a Sunday, creating a 3 day
weekend. Not everybody went to the parks.
Some could not afford it and on many a train ride the
dads were absent from the family outing. Many
had to stay home with their friends and drink
beer. Those that could afford it took trains
destined for a small town like St. Joseph, while
others would cruise Independence Avenue from Woodland
to Gladstone in their buggies, dressed in their
best. Most large, vacant lots became ball
parks. Many cemeteries served as picnic groves
and if you wanted to wager a bet there were the horse
races at Exposition Park. Many in the city liked
to ride their wheel (bicycle) out to
Independence. New stone roads had been laid to
both Salem and Blue Springs. The suburban road
system was beginning its infancy. The country
clubs offered golf and tennis.
Fairmount Park and
its many attractions was that place to be. Six years
of smart investment had turned a forest into a silver
mine. Kansas City was being nickeled and
dollared. but they loved it. From debarking the
trains until time to go home, vendors hawked such
things as popcorn, peanuts, soda water and cheap
candy. Parents could trust the park to protect
their children if they wanted to go to the
theater. The park was like a 70 acre baby
sitter. A small zoo was located where Northern
and Ohio meet. Bears, a deer petting pen and
Shetland ponies for riding kept the kids busy.
On the lake "The Admiral," a canvas covered
powered boat plowed around
the 18 acre lake.
Two big Vaudeville
shows were the feature attractions at the auditorium;
trapeze artists, singers, clowns, sketches, and moving
pictures. Day and night fireworks lit up the
outdoors. The Third Regiment Band played from
morning until the last person had left the park.
Washington park's
popularity this season was really off from previous
years. Many still preferred its quiet beauty,
with its acres of flowers and huge oak trees (some 5
feet in diameter) to Troost Park's monkeys or
Fairmount Park's crowds. Bands, large and small,
played concerts and many big names were invited to
perform. The lake was a big draw and the
boating, fishing, and bathing beach were first
class. Rain interrupted many a visit to the
park, but the only cover was the leaves on the trees,
as there were not many buildings.
After the 4th of July
at Fairmount, a blue ribbon bicycle race was held for
the Convention Hall Fund. Kansas City's best
riders entered. On a rainy Saturday afternoon,
several track records were broken and one state record
tied. Admission was 25 cents and there were many
spills and plenty of seats due to the inclement
weather.
August 1st the
Salvation Army invited all poor mothers in the Kansas
City area to attend Camp Stilwell. A tent city
was erected and educational and medical facilities
were made available. The park was also at their
beck and call.
An attempt to
interest Kansas City's youth in boating flopped.
On Friday afternoon, August 27th, a regatta by the
newly formed Kansas City Naval Cadets failed to draw
much of a crowd. Plans for a lighted night
parade on the lake were cancelled.
The 3rd annual Horse
Show began on Saturday, September 4th. A lot of
changes were made since last year's show.
Special rates by the railroads boosted
attendance. Anyone within several hundred miles
of Kansas City (like Texarkana) could purchase a
ticket for $4.50. This was a
doubling of the circumference over last year's
show. One thing that this show would have that
the first two didn't was class. First, the number
of entries, 500 or so, was about the same as last
year, but there were more horses from out of
town. Many had been in shows in Chicago or
Philadelphia. Along with the horse was the
horseman or horsewoman, they all had money, most had
class.
Last year there were
two shows a day, in 1897 there was one show a day,
seven days a week from 2:00 P.M. till almost
dusk. This year the contestants entered the
arena from the stables at Sterling Avenue and Lake
Street, then called "Horsey Hill", using the
new bridge. For drainage, six inches of cinders
was laid on the dirt arena floor. The cinders
then were covered by six inches of tan bark.
Dimensions of the arena floor were 350 feet north to
south, 250 feet east to west. The weather was
also different. Last year it had rained almost
every day, this year it was very hot with temperatures
into the 90s.
Ninety percent of the
people rode the Air Line to the park, but some rode
out in their buggies, arriving with dust from the
macadam road. Taking a bicycle to a horse show
would be like taking a Yamaha to a Harley run.
The amphitheater soon filled with 7,000 spectators and
"Horsey Hill" was also filled with the
overflow of people who watched for free.
The United States
Calvary from Fort Riley, Kansas was sent by the War
Department to entertain and educate the civilian
population. They camped north of the bear pit;
their perimeter is now the Northern, Kentucky,
Appleton, and Ohio Street square. This was only
the second time a military unit had put on a show, the
first being in Madison Square Garden. This was a
Nineties version of an air show.
Commanding 48
horsemen, 32 cannon men, over 100 horses and mules and
2 cannons was Captain T. T. Knox, with 24 years of
service and veteran of two Indian Wars. He would
send a full report back to Washington, who was
interested in the civilian attitude to these
shows.
Everyday at 8:00
P.M., Labor Day through Friday, the horse soldiers
would perform, getting more reckless by the day.
Riding like Cossacks they put on one hell of a
show. Several were hurt doing tricks like back
flips. They certainly earned their $20 a month
average pay. Several Calvary horses were entered
in the horse show. They were large animals, some
weighing a half ton, all jumpers. Next summer
they would be in Cuba without their horses, commanded
by Leonard Wood and Teddy Roosevelt. They were
going to be the Rough Riders.
The First Calvary was
the hit of the show. The hero was Ed Stutte.
His two horses, Gambler and King Salisbury, and buggy
got away from him while showing them to the
judges. For six laps they ran wild; the crowd
cheered. Finally the horses tired and came to a
stop in front of the grandstand. When
congratulated for his horsemanship he said, "What
else could I do?"
Mules were also in the show. A fox hunt and trumpet blowing contest and much more were held.
During the Horse Show on the afternoon of Saturday, September 11, at precisely 3:30, a loud cannon went off and a huge banner unfolded, announcing that the last spike had been driven in the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad, another venture conceived by Fairmount Park founder Arthur Stilwell. From Kansas City to the Gulf town it was now connected with by rail, Port Arthur, Texas, people celebrated in the streets. The celebrating would be short-lived, however, as a hurricane fell upon Port Arthur early the next morning which killed fourteen people, including four who had sought shelter in Stilwell's KCP&G roundhouse.
In spite of all this, Horse Show #3 was a huge success, with 40,000 people attending the show this year. Fairmount Park was becoming very well known.
OTHER
INTERESTING EVENTS IN 1897
-
Hawaiian
Islands annexed by U. S. (Japan warns of grave
consequences)
-
Cuba
rejects an offer of self government from Spain
-
Gold
discovered in the Klondike
-
Dow
Chemical Company is founded
-
U. S. auto
production reaches 100 units
-
First
cathode-ray tube (TV) developed
-
Woman's
Home Companion begins publication
-
"Dracula"
by Bram Stoker published
-
"Stars
and Stripes Forever" by John Sousa is a big hit
-
First
annual Cheyenne Rodeo
-
Steeplechase
Park opens at Coney Island, New York
-
210' high
Ferris Wheel at Vienna's Prather Park
-
Jell-O is
introduced, 88% sugar.
Copyright © 2005 John M. Olinskey
