The Terre Haute Street Fairs

Between 1898 and 1905, Terre Haute hosted an annual Fall Festival and Street Fair each October.

The idea germinated from the success of midways at expositions held across the country after the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

"There was a certain freedom from restraint about the old midway," a Terre Haute Morning Star reporter wrote Oct. 16, 1903. "It was an 'I don't care what people say' spirit.

"The joy of making one's self ridiculous by bobbing up and down on the back of a camel or riding donkeys five sizes too small around the square was boundless," the reporter wrote. "Moreover, people liked to eat bum-bum candy because it was made by the faraway Turks, and they took an interest in the nations whose lifestyle was depicted in exhibits."

The first Terre Haute Street Fair, and each one that followed, was a week-long event. Downtown merchants decorated the streets and buildings and innovative interior decorator Clarence H. Payne built spectacular arches spanning Wabash Avenue.

The crowd was large, calculated at 30,000. Only the 1867 Indiana State Fair and Grand Circuit harness racing at the Vigo County Fairgrounds attracted visitors to Terre Haute for a prolonged stay. The fair became an annual event.

By 1900, however, some critics surfaced, alarmed by the "demoralizing effect" the fair had upon the city and, particularly, school children.

Terre Haute pharmacist William C. Buntin was the most vocal.

"For a week, the law-abiding citizen is forced to take extra precautions against sneak thieves in the crowd surging up and down Main Street every night," Buntin complained.

"The spirit of license is so rampant that each individual is a law unto himself. The people on the streets and in the shows, crowding and jostling one another, are of all classes, from the reputable moral men and women to the lowest black guard.

"In many of the shows, women and young girls are subjected to insulting remarks and the loathsome touch of some scoundrel who ought to be tarred and feathered."

Moreover, Buntin declared, street obstructions prevented the fire department from rendering efficient service in the event of an emergency.

"During the week of the fair," he claimed, "school work is almost at a standstill. Even students at our Normal School, Rose Polytechnic and the commercial colleges take advantage of this reign of lawlessness to do things they would never do at any other time.

"The commercial advantage is not to the general populace, but to a favored few. To some, it is a detriment. Even if all merchants were benefited, they compose only 10 percent of the people and the tax burden created by the need for additional police, street cleaners, and re-sodding the court house lawn is imposed on all."

Buntin's plea did not have an immediate impact. The crowd attending the 1902 Street Fair exceeded all prior records, resulting in 140,000 admissions for 25 paid attractions. There also were five free shows. The Terre Haute Electric Co. -- operator of the locally-based interurban -- established a one-day record for traffic.

In 1903, the Terre Haute Street Fair Association -- headed by downtown merchant Abe Levinson and attorney Felix Blankenbaker -- attempted to free the carnival from its objectionable features.

Blankenbaker volunteered his services. As a law student at Dixon College in 1900, he sold pins, needles, handkerchiefs and socks at the Street Fair to pay tuition.

"Had it not been for the street fair, I could not have finished law school," he revealed. "As it turned out, I earned more than three times the amount I needed."

Perhaps the most unique Street Fair attraction in 1903 was Snoozer, "the smallest horse in the world," measuring 14 inches high and weighing 30 pounds. It was owned by Charles Proctor of Chicago.

In 1904, a street carnival was part of the Old Boys and Old Girls Reunion, which brought hundreds of former Terre Haute residents back to the city. There was very little public opposition to that event, which was considered a rousing success.

The Street Fair of 1905, the last of its kind, faced some opposition, but its association with the dedication of the new Wabash River bridge silenced most critics.

Besides the bridge dedication speech by Claude G. Bowers on Oct. 17, the principal attraction in 1905 was the return of Terre Haute native Rose Melville as "Sis Hopkins," the role she made world famous, to the Grand Opera House on Oct. 19.

The most celebrated street carnival act featured Princess Pauline and her Trained Animal Show, which included several lions, at Eighth and Wabash. The show was operated by the Ferari (sic) Amusement Co. of London.

Unfortunately, "Barnum, the greatest lion ever captured" and the model for the stone lion that graced the main entrance of the St. Louis Art Institute, did not appear. A week before he was scheduled to come to Terre Haute, the lion died of starvation in Kalamazoo, Mich., an indirect result of being deprived the company of his life mate.

Other 1905 fair attractions included The Great London Ghost Show; The Filipino Midgets; Crystal Maze ("The Cave of the Winds"); Marie the Mysterious; Circus Royal; The Streets of Cairo; Katzenjammer Kastle; the miniature horse Chequeta; a Wild West Show; contortionist May Meeker; Speedy, the "world champion high diver;" Samayoa, "the Central American cloud swinger;" Cavana, the "peerless slack wire artist;" and a dog, pony, monkey and goat circus.

Mike McCormick is the Vigo County historian. His column appears each Sunday.