Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 5, Number 2, Fall, 1993 Page: 20
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Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Ohio buildings
at the world's fair, among others. The bid was
for $25,650. Mrs. Tobin agreed to pay only $25,000,
so Gordon gave his personal note for $650.42 Five
payments were scheduled as the building progressed,
the final payment of $5,000 being due when the
structure was completed.43
For the Texas building, Gordon chose a
Spanish Mission design. The building boasted a
tower rising beside a carved, low-relief ornament
doorway. Large art glass skylights were designed
for the ceiling, and a mosaic Texas star was in the
center of the auditorium floor. Texas woods were
used to finish each room. Unfortunately, because of
lack of money, the building was started late in 1892,
and by the new year it was far behind all the others.
The roof was on by the first week in January, but
Harley was waiting for Llano granite, curly pine,
and magnolia wood for the ceilings, and onyx found
near El Paso for the wainscoting.
On January 31, 1893, after inspecting the site,
architect Gordon reported to Mrs. Tobin that work to
cover the structure was underway, but that the contractor
was waiting for more money. If it was not
forthcoming, Gordon warned, the building would be
torn down. Couldn't the Texas legislature help with
an appropriation, he asked? "Where is the pride that
sleeps within the bosom of true Texans?" he wrote.44
Within a week, construction was halted.
There was a brief flurry of activity in the
Texas legislature to help, but the effort was feeble at
best. One legislator introduced a bill authorizing the
sale of Texas public land to support the exhibitions.
Another wanted to use the bounty on sugar received
by the U.S. Treasury to maintain Texas exhibits at
the world's fair. A third authorized the Commissioner
of Insurance, Statistics, and History to create
an exhibit at Chicago and suggested a $100,000
appropriation. All measures died in committee.45
None offered financial support for construction of
the Texas building. There was a consensus among
legislators that it should be a matter for "the press
and the people."46
With construction halted and the Texas Legislature
failing to offer any help, Mrs. Tobin and the
world's fair movement faced a crisis. Adding to
their frustration, the Mexican government wanted to
buy the unfinished Texas building for its own exhibition,
having decided late to join in the Columbian
Exposition. After over a year of labor, only $8,000
20had been raised. Another $17,000 was needed just to
complete the Texas building. The situation was urgent."Now, once more, I appeal to the men of
Texas to come to our relief," Mrs. Tobin pleaded in
an address. The women of Texas had pledged their
honor to have their state represented at the Columbian
Exposition, she said. Money was needed within ten
days. Alexander Sanger, a pillar of Dallas' s business
and civic community, lamented that the legislature
would not help; it "is not a little narrow-minded," he
observed.47
The women did raise some money, but it was
only in small amounts, coming from small communities
around the state: $2.60 from the MexicanAmerican
children of San Diego; $14.90 from the
schools in Columbus; $6.70 from the school children
of Corsicana. It was the threat that Mexico
would buy the Texas building, however, that provided
the impetus for serious fund raising. Robert B.
Parrott and S. W. Slayden, a Waco banker, each
loaned the Lady Managers $500 and called on other
Texans to do the same. Ironically, most of the money
did not come from Texas. Charles S. Morse, Clerk of
the Supreme Court of Texas and long-time Secretary
of the Texas Bar Association, came to the rescue
by securing $5,000 each from Jay Gould of the
Texas and Pacific Railway and Colles Porter Huntington
of the Southern Pacific, and $2,000 from
Henry C. Rouse, president of the Missouri, Kansas
and Texas Railroad. He also secured a promise from
the Provident Savings Life Assurance Society of
New York to make up whatever amount was necessary
to pay off the Texas building. Thus Mrs.
Tobin's goal of $25,000 was met and completion of
the building assured.48 Because of the tardiness in
raising money, the building was not completed by
May 1, when the Columbian Exposition opened. In
fact, it was not ready until July 8.49
The Lady Managers found it even more difficult
to raise money for the annex and exhibits.
Philip Sanger, treasurer of the special board appointed
to raise the funds, reported in April 1893 that
he had spent only $62.50, because that was all he
had. Dallas was to have raised $45,000 but did not.
Just to ship the exhibits to Chicago would cost
$3000. Frank E. Roesler of the T & P warned that
unless Texas businessmen got behind the project, it
was "about to become a flat failure without a single
redeeming feature."
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Dallas County Heritage Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 5, Number 2, Fall, 1993, periodical, 1993; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35115/m1/22/: accessed May 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.