The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26
GEORGIA TALENT HONoRED.
A GEORGIAN's SHARE IN THE
GREAT COLEMAN PAIR.

the SOuth-A worthy Tribute BY a
kindly Hand 90 One of GeOrEia's
Great Men.
Contributed by a Savannah LADY,.
Visitors to the Worlds Columbian Tx
position heard. now and again. express
sions OF regret at the untimely death Of
one Of the chief architects of the White
city" but very few dreamed that it was
a Georgian who was being thus lamented.
Such, however, proves to have been the
case. for Mr. Root. who. together with
his partner. Mr.. D. II. Burnham Of Chi
cagO, and Messrs. Olmsted and Cadman Of
Massachusetts, was the creator Of the
Magic City on Lake Michigan. was
Georgian and died before his work was
finished. John WellbQFn Root was born
in Lumpkin, Stewart county, Georgia,
Jan. 10, 1850 and was the nephew OF Judge
John J. T. Clarke, Judge Marshall J.
Wellborn, and Judge Marshall Clarke, for
the first two Of whom he was named. He
must have been of a warm, impulsive ma
ture for before he was well in his teens
he wanted TO become a volunteer in the
confederate army. Instead. however, he
was sent, at the age OF IA years, to Eng
land, where he was given every advantage
of studying the profession Of architecture.
After the war, in order to keep him from
becoming an Anglomaniac, his father
brought him back TO America and he was
graduated from the University of New
York. When Chicago was partially de-
stroyed by fire, young Root then about
p years old, acting upon the advice of his
father, declined a government position at
5000 a year in Cincinnati, and went to
Chicago. This proved to be a most wise
course, for there he met Mr.. d. II. Burn
ham, then young man, and the two
formed partnership which was dissolved
only by the death of Mr.. Root This firm.
before long, became so successful and
prosperous, that they had the largest
architectural office in the world and they
erected some of the most notable build
ings in the west, among them being the
Woman's Christian Temple, the Masonic
Temple, OF p stories, and the famous
"Rookery" which is said to have
been the first very tall building in America.
When the worlds fair was being
projected Messrs. Burnham & Root
were elected in 1880 as CON
sulting architects" and Messrs
Olmsted & Cadman as Consulting land
scape architects" Mr.. Durham thus
writes OF the origin of the white city"
Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, the emil
Mass. having been retained by the local
corporation to examine the sites offered
for the exposition, reported in favor of
Jackson Park, where the rair was finally
held. His report contained detailed sug-
gestton concerning the manner in which
the ground might be made available for
an exposition. 1t also contained a small
scale map, which disclosed the lagoons
the Wooded Island, almost exactly as they
were carried out. The report also showed
narrow body Of water where the North
Canal, leading from the basin was, and
basin Of water where the basin now Is.
Mr.. Olmsted and partner, Mr.. Henry Sar-
gent Cadman, had been employed under
NJ. Alphand. who was director of works
at the last Paris exposition. Mr.. c. was
a man highly trained regarding the adap-
tation of landscape gardening to archi-
tectural needs, so as to give the highest
expression to buildings and the planting
in the waters about them. Mr.. Olmsted
Mr.. Cadman, Mr. Root and 1 worked to-
gether on the study OF proper place for
an exposition in Jackson Park. 1t was
drawn by pencil in the hands of Mr..
Root. The main idea of a great basin of
water, surrounded by formal buildings
where the grand court OF honor was placed
belonged to Cadman, and its location fob
lowed Olmsted's scheme of crude division
OF land and water. The conception of the
was the work of the landscape architects,
but that was only a part of the plan and
while 1t developed the main idea, l feel
that the disposition of the buildings about
it was quite as essential to what may be
called the general design as was the first
idea disclosed by Olmsted's little map
The talent displayed by Mr.. Root was that
of bringing together the various sugges-
lions of those who were with him. Henry
Sargent Cadman did all of the terrace
work, both in general and in particular
The laying off of the bridges, the balus-
trades, the stairways on the terraces,
the rostral columns, the work about the
fountain, and. in fact all the purely archi-
tectural details apart from the buildings
themselves was the work of Charles b.
Atwood 1t was not until the architects
from the east visited Chicago on our inTi-
tation. that we ~ settled upon
the architectural character of the
buildings. These gentlemen arrived in
Chicago on. Jan. 10, 1891, and met Mr. Root
for. few moments in the afternoon and
again at dinner, that evening. On Mon
day, Jan. 12, we had meeting in our office
in Chicago, but MIR. Root was too i'll to
be present, and on the Thursday following
he died. The. conception of the plan be-
longs as much to him as to either of the
four men who were employed upon 1t. The
spirit of the mans life pervaded the
work, and what was accomplished
through him seems to me to eminently
justify the pride of the state in which
he was born. His fame did not rest en-
tirely upon the exposition. He was an
eminent man before that. What he did
for the exposition itself was of the high
est value and for this alone he should re-
ceive a laurel crown
Although Mr.. Root was cut off in the full
vigor of his manhood his works do fol-
low him." and his memory will be kept
green for years and years to come. Hav-
ing himself talent and keen appreciation
for high art of every kind, and knowing
the advantages of thorough training, he
sent two students abroad to be perfected
in studies, which could iFot be so well ac-
quired in this country; therefore. even if
his fame had not been recorded by speci-
mems of his talent and by memorial mar
BILE in Chicago and in the University of
New York, he would still live on in hearts
that love him, and are the better for his
having lived. Thus, through the genius
of her talented son, Georgia more than
made mends for her failure to send
state exhibit to the marvellous Columbian
exposition OF 1898. AS some return for the
glory he reflected upon her, shall not
Georgia vie with Chicago and New York
by erecting a memorial in his honor? Or
.