A view from the Phoenix (Ferris) wheel atop Oak Hill, near the present-day Charles Allen Drive entrance to the park, 1895.

"The outside frame construction, which is largely used in the smaller buildings, is very easy to erect, and it is only a matter of how rapidly men can raise boards to their places. Of the three hundred and over buildings on the grounds probably one hundred and fifty are these little structures that grow out of the grass plots in every conceivable corner in a few hours."

—Atlanta Constitution, September 3, 1895

"During the afternoon [Colorado] Governor McIntire visited the cotton patch on the exposition grounds [in the meadow near Park Drive Bridge] and, under the chaperonage of [Atlanta] Mayor King, saw cotton growing for the first time. He plucked several bolls to carry home for souvenirs."

—Atlanta Constitution, September 22, 1895

*Above:* Fulton County convicts leveled a substantial hilltop along present-day Tenth Street to create Midway Heights, shown here in 1895; *opposite:* the site today.

"All of the shows of the midway being thoroughly lighted for the first time attracted the great crowds and last night was a gala one for the shows.... The Mexican village was going at full tilt; the camels of the Streets of Cairo were lugging their human freight up and down the alley, while the dusky-haired and dowdy damsels shook their shoulders in the *dance du ventre* [belly dance] within the theater; the Dahomeyans were raising a bedlam of noise in their village; the boys of the town were listening to music and drinking beer in the German village where revelry runs as the night grows; the Chinese women played to a similar audience next door, while the men beat their noisy instruments in the theater; the Vaudeville theater was in full blast attracting the cream of the crowd, because it is the cream of the midway; the illusions, the Indian village, the Ostrich farm, the Gypsy village, the haunted swing, the Moorish palace, the Egyptian ladies, the scenic theater and the mystic maze caught their share of the crowds.

... Yes, it was a great night on the Midway."