CHAPTER VII.

THE STATES BY THE LAKES.

The Beautiful Building of Ohio — A Great R sort Afternoons — Indiana's Superb Sixty-Five Thousand
Dollar Edifice— Michigan's Attractive Building —Nothing to Excel It in All Round Beauties — The
Wolverines in Their Glory — The Badger State Spends $30,000 to Make Its Denizens Com-
fortable.

HIO, one of the greatest states in the Union, and 80 years
ago the " far west," is represented by a $30,000 building
on the North Pond, between the Art Palace and Illinois
building. It is a type of the Italian renaissance — called
in America, colonial — and is 100x80 feet, two stories high,
of wood and staff with tile roof. The main entrance on
the east is within a semi-circular colonial portico, thirty-
three feet high, the roof supported by eight great col-
umns. The tile roof, mantels, finishing woods, and
much of the visible material are the gift of Ohio producers.
The main entrance opens on a lobby, on the left of which
is the women's parlor, and on the right a committee-room. Occupying the central
portion of the building is the reception hall, 23 by 36 feet, and 28 feet high, extend-
ing through to the roof. The coved ceiling of the hall is ornamented. A broad
terrace extends the entire length of the main facade, and back of the reception
hall is an open court, 36 feet square, inclosed on three sides, the north and south
sides being formed by the wings of the building. All of the north wing is occupied
by the information bureau. The room is 30 by 59 feet, and is divided into offices by
wire railings. In the south wing is the parlor for men, a writing-room, a smoking-
room, and toilet rooms. On the second floor of the north wing is the assembly-
room, 30 by 42 feet. The second floor of the south wing has a press correspond-
ents' room, servants' rooms, bed and bath rooms.

Buckeyes molded in stucco form the motif of decoration in the main hall, and
the coat of arms of the State appears in an ornamental stained window. The glass
is an amber hue and the room bathed in a mellow radiance enhanced by soft brown
axminster and cream tinted columns. The names of prominent Ohio men appear
in other golden panes. The ladies' parlor is furnished in azure, ivory and gold, and in all
its appointments denotes elegance and comfort. The grounds are in keeping with
the building, and the eastern lawns are a great resort afternoons.

Indiana looms up appropriately, its building costing $65,000. It is situated
north of the Woman's building and next to the building of Wisconsin. From the

488

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

western veranda the hoosier visitors may enjoy a beautiful view of the wooded
islands, the lagoon, the Illinois building and nearly all the main structures. It is
French Gothic in design with cathedral windows, turrets arid towers. Two large
towers with spires, one at either side, rising above the roof of the extreme point,

are about 150 feet from the ground.
The dimensions, including a ve-
randa 20 feet wide with two floors
extending entirely around the build-
ing, are 53x152 feet; height three
stories and general appearance
very massive. The towers are
constructed of Colitic limestone
brought from the Indiana quarries.
The building is covered with staff.
The entrance steps, balustrade and
doorways are of handsome carved
patterns of stone and make a fine
display. The lower story floor is
OHIO BUILDING. encaustic tile of handsome pattern

Broad carved oak stairways lead

from the lower floor into the towers of the building. The entire finish and the
doors are of native quartered oak, carved and highly polished. On the first and
second floors a wide hall extends through from one tower to the other, separating
the office, parlors, reception and toilet rooms from the assembly room on the first
floor, and the reading and writing
room on the second floor, from the
ladies' parlor, reception and toilet
rooms in the north part of the build-
ing. On the ground floor is a par-
lor for women, with check and
toilet rooms; a parlor for men,
with check and toilet rooms. The
assembly room on the lower floor
is in the form of a hal circle, or
an immense bay window, and is
used for the general reception
room. On the second floor is a
reading and writing room for the
use of the general public, the
women's private office and recep-
tion room, the office of the president, the State board and the executive com-
missioner. On the third story, over the main assembly room, is a large room suit-
able for a lunch room.

Michigan spends about $50,000 on its splendid building, which is on" of the

INDIANA BUILDING.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

489

MICHIGAN BUILDING.

mosi showy home-like and convenient on the grounds. It occupies a beautiful site
near the west end of the Art gallery, fronting on two boulevards and near the Ohio,
Colorado and Wisconsin buildings. It is 100x140 feet and is constructed after the
style of the renaissance and is three stories in height. It is surrounded on three

sides by an elevated piazza twelve
feet wide, with high red shingled
roofs sloping overdormerwindows,
and rising majestically above the
front entrance, a balconied tower
131 feet high. In this are two large
illuminated clocks with six foot
dials which maybe seen a long dis-
tance. The rotunda has balconies,
and is painted a light granite gray
with the soft red shingles, the
whole having a harmonious and
homelike effect. The main en-
trance is by way of the west front,
and one steps into a great tiled
reception hall that extends the full
depth of the structure and is sixty-
two feet wide. Opening from this hall and near the entrance are the secretary's
offices, check rooms, post office, and barbershop. The reception, reading and toilet
rooms for men and for women are on either side of the hall way, and each apart-
ment is spacious and handsomely
finished. There are wood fire places
in all of these rooms, with high oak
mantels over which are heads of
Michigan deer. On the second
floor is an assembly room, 32x60,
in which a fine pipe organ, built
in Detroit, is placed, and an ex-
hibit room room, 31x100 feet. In
this exhibit hall is a collection of
Michigan birds, beasts, and reptiles,
woods, grains, Indian relics and
minerals — everything that lives or
has a being in Michigan. On the
second floor is also the newspaper
exhibit. Here are cabinets in which

are shown the first page of every newspaper printed in Michigan. The directors
and commission's rooms are also on this floor. On the third floor twelve chambers,
with bath and toilet rooms, for members of the commission and employes of the

WISCONSIN BUILDING.

490

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

building. Five hundred incandescent lamps are used in and about the building.
Many of these shine in clusters along the balcony rails.

The most of the important rooms in the building were furnished by the
women of the various cities of the state. The men's reading and reception rooms
were furnished at a cost of $4,500 by the citizens of Muskegon. The women's rooms
were fitted up by the women of Grand Rapids. The walls of these rooms are done
in ivory and gold, with plastic dado, and the curtains hanging in harmonious tints,

are of the heaviest and
finest materials. The wo-
men's toilet rooms are fin-
ished entirely in bamboo.
Probably the finest apart-
ment in the building is the
Saginaw room. The con-
tractor left this room un-
floored, unceiled, and with
bare studding, and the lum-
bermen of Saginaw stepped
in and finished it up, floor,
walls, and ceiling, with the
best pick of all the different
kinds of hard wood that
come into the Saginaw mar-
ket. A life like bust of Gen.
Cass is placed upon the
half- way landing of the main
staircase, while throughout
the building are pictures of
noted Michigan men, " Badg-
er State " scenery, etc. On
the west front is a handsome
stone parapet from the quar-
ries at Bay Port, and sur-
rounding the tower is a bal-
cony capable of holding 200

Wolverines, should they care to afford themselves of the splendid view of the Ex-
position, to be obtained from this point.

Wisconsin's building, which cost $30,000, starts out with brown stoi.^ from
the shores of Lake Superior, follows that up with pressed brick from Menomenee,
and finishes with shingles that grew in the state's northern forests. It is a repro-
duction of a Wisconsin home and designed in no special style, yet unlike many
other structures, not being built of evanescent stuff, it looks like it was constructed
for a family residence to be passed from father to son. It is enclosed on all sides

SOLDIERS' MONUMENT IN FRONT OF OHIO BUILDING.

'

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 491

by spacious varandas, while the upper stories are all provided with cosy porches of
their own, giving the building a particularly home-like appearance.

The structure is 118x92 feet in area, with high hipped roof, stained to an
olive tint. The walls of the first story are of red brick; above are stained shingles.
The main entrance faces the lake and is 19 feet wide, the columns and walls of the
broad veranda which covers the portal are of brownstone and polished granite.
Within the lobby — which runs the full depth of the building — opens the adjacent
rooms by arches finished in red oak panel work, and carved with the Wisconsin
coat-of-arms. The lobby itself is in white oak. There is a broad oaken stairway
leading to the second floor, and midway up, set in front of the building, the good
people of Superior have put a big stained-glass window. This window shows two
views of Superior, one when it was a solitary Indian wigwam, the other the Superior
of to-day. Pine boughs, skillfully wrought in glass, encircle these pictures. There
is a view, too, of a whaleback steamer under full headway. The legend underneath
informs him who looks that Superior is " the home of the whaleback."

The first floor of the Wisconsin building is divided in about the same fashion
as has been followed in all of the state buildings. The southwest corner of the
main floor is reserved for women's headquarters. This part of the building is done
in curly maple, birch, butternut, and oak, all the woods coming from Chippewa
county. There is a parquetry floor which was made in Racine. The men's rooms
are across the hallway and are similar in size and appointments to those reserved
for women. The rest of the main floor is taken up by the information bureau,
package rooms and post office, which occupy the northwest corner. On the second
floor are rooms and exhibit hall for the state historical society, a large assembly
room, the office of the board, and the board's secretary, and reading and smoking
rooms. The rooms of this floor are finished in birch and ash. They all open upon
broad balconies in the east and west fronts of the building. On the third floor are
chambers and bath rooms for commissioners and employes.