Golf in the Gilded Age:
Robber Barons, Railroads, and Resort Hotels
2: The Gilded Age 1870s-1890s
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American golf had its birth in the Gilded Age (1870s-1890s),
and by the close of the 19th century the United States had more golf
courses than Britain. This start is inextricably intertwined with the
dominant Tycoons of the day, and this in turn entangles the foundation
of golf in America with the expansion of their railroads and their associated
Grand Hotels in exclusive resort locations.
From 1900 to the advent of WWII, golf in America added
sinew and muscle on this underlying frame to make the Resort golf experience
truly spectacular and widely accessible outside the echelons of elite
society. The enduring legacy has been that the popularization of golf
in America is indelibly stamped with the watermark of excellence set
by these fabulous early Resorts.
The Gilded Age
 C.
America in the 1890s
Carnegie Hall Opening night, May 5, 1891
Andrew Carnegie's $1,000,000 Concert Hall
Opening night, May 5, 1891 (Tchaikovsky conducting -
he died two years later)
Nadezhda
von Meck, Russian railroad baroness, Tchaikovsky's patroness and
confidante from 1877 to 1890.
Through his Berlin concert agent, Tchaikovsky received
an invitation for a conducting tour of the United States. This tour
would have as its centerpiece a concert of his music at the inaugural
concert of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Tchaikovsky accepted, arriving
in New York on April 27, 1891. "I was greeted with dignity and honor,"
he writes to his brother Anatoly, "My picture is in all the papers,
accompanying reports of my arrival. It transpires that I am far more
famous in America than in Europe. Here I am a big shot." He adds this,
in a letter to Bob Davydov: Everyone here flatters, honors and celebrates
me. It turns out that I am ten times better known in America than in
Europe. At first, when people told me this, I assumed it was an exaggerated
compliment. But now I see it is the truth. Works of mine that are still
unknown in Moscow are performed here several times a season, and are
the subject of whole reviews and commentaries (Hamlet, for example).
Carnegie Hall. Tchaikovsky conducted at its inaugural concert. During
this time he met Walter Damrosch, the conductor who had convinced Andrew
Carnegie that New York needed a new concert all, as well as Carnegie
himself. Tchaikovsky liked both men, appreciating in particular a warm
impromptu speech Damrosch gave the New York Music Society's orchestra
at Tchaikovsky's first rehearsal. Carnegie, to the composer's surprise,
was "a modest and simple man, never one to turn up his nose," inspiring
in Tchaikovsky "unusually warm feelings, probably becasue he displays
such warmth toward me."
Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wikipedia
World's Columbian Exposition (WCE), The "White City",
Chicago 1893
Depression of 1893 A depression caused by overspeculation,
depressed agricultural prices, and weakened American credit abroad.
The worst depression in America since the 1870s, the Depression of 1893
hit farmers hard and left millions in the cities without work. President
Grover Cleveland's inability to end the depression caused social unrest
and helped strengthen the Populist Party's following.
Notwihstanding the difficult national economy, Congress
awarded Chicago the honor of hosting the 300th anniversary of the discovery
of America with the World's Columbian Exposition, one in a series of
World's Fairs like the Paris World's fair of 1889 and the Philadelphia
Fair of 1876 celebrating.
The WCE marked the beginning of the Gilded Age and showcased
the best Beaux Arts architects of the day, especially those of New York
and Chicago. This watershed event cast a long shadow down thru the ensuing
decades, influencing American architectural styles and tastes well thru
the 1920s and 1930s.
Expo Court
Manufacturing Exhibit
William F. Cody (1846-1917)
Buffalo Bill Cody had started his theatrical western shows
in Chicago in 1872 with Wild Bill Hickok and others, and in 1882 he
transformed his show into "Buffalo Bill's Wild Wets", an outdoor
extravaganza featuring 100s in the cast, including former Indian Chiefs
and Annie ("Little Sure Shot") Oakley. The full ensemble perfromed
as the star attraction at the 1887 Golden Jubilee for Queen Victoria
and returned to tour Europe in 1889.
1899 Poster
As the Wild West toured North America over the next twenty
years, it became a moving extravaganza, including as many as 1200 performers.
In 1893 the title was changed to Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress
of Rough Riders of the World. The show began with a parade on horseback,
with participants from horse-culture groups that included US and other
military, American Indians, and performers from all over the world in
their best attire. There were Turks, Gauchos, Arabs, Mongols and Cossacks,
among others, each showing their own distinctive horses and colorful
costumes. Visitors to this spectacle could see main events, feats of
skill, staged races, and sideshows. Many authentic western personalities
were part of the show. For example Sitting Bull and a band of twenty
braves appeared. Cody's headline performers were well known in their
own right. People like Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler put
on shooting exhibitions along with the likes of Gabriel Dumont. Buffalo
Bill and his performers would re-enact the riding of the Pony Express,
Indian attacks on wagon trains, and stagecoach robberies. The show typically
ended with a melodramatic re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand in which
Cody himself portrayed General Custer.
In 1887 he performed in London in celebration of the
Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, and toured Europe in 1889. In 1890 he
met Pope Leo XIII. He set up an exhibition near the Chicago World's
Fair of 1893, which greatly contributed to his popularity, and also
vexed the promoters of the fair. As noted in The Devil in the White
City, he had been rebuffed in his request to be part of the fair, so
he set up shop just to the west of the fairgrounds, drawing many patrons
away from the fair. Since his show was not part of the fair, he was
not obligated to pay the fair any royalties, which they could have used
to temper the financial struggles of the fair.
From Raff & Gammon price list: The "Little Sure Shot"
of the "Wild West," exhibition of rifle shooting at glass balls, etc.
Duration: 0:21 at 30 fps. MAVIS 179286. Filmed November 1, 1894, in
Edison's Black Maria studio.
SUMMARY From Raff & Gammon price list: A very interesting
subject, full of action and true to life. From Edison films catalog:
One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the
dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes.
40 feet. 7.50. NOTES Copyright: no reg. Camera, William Heise. Duration:
0:21 at 20 fps. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, this film
and others shot on the same day (see also Buffalo dance) featured Native
American Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and represent
the American Indian's first appearance before a motion picture camera.
MAVIS 211296. Filmed September 24, 1894, in Edison's Black Maria studio.
Performers: Last Horse, Parts His Hair, Hair Coat. Camera,
William Heise. Duration: 0:15 at 20 fps. According to Edison film historian
C. Musser, this film and others shot on the same day (see also Sioux
ghost dance) featured Native American Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's
Wild West show, and constitutes the American Indian's first appearance
before a motion picture camera. MAVIS 183862. Filmed September 24, 1894,
in Edison's Black Maria studio.
Other Expositions and World's Fairs
Philadelphia, 1876:
Paris Exposition, 1900:
(The scene opens at the Garde de Parre at the Paris Exposition
Grounds, and shows a long stream of cars drawn by a typical French engine
steaming into the station. The train comes to a stop and hundreds of
doors of the European compartment cars are opened. The multitudes of
people of all nationalities pour out and start with a rush for the main
gate of the Exposition. This picture was secured on one of the big days
at the great Paris show and an immense crowd is clearly depicted leaving
the cars, some of which are double deckers and very unique in construction.
This is a typical European train scene, and was secured under the most
advantageous circumstances.)
("This panoramic scene is taken from a Seine steamboat
and gives a rapid view of the banks of the river. The launch steams
under six bridges and past the Street of Nations. The United States
Building is a prominent white domed structure, gay with national flags.
The picture ends at the famous three million dollar bridge, the Pont
Alexander III.)
San Francisco 1901:
This is a great historical event. Our cameras were stationed
in the center of the Esplanade looking toward the Main Approach to the
Pan-American Exposition, with the Triumphal Bridge, and the entrance
in the foreground. The procession, headed by Vice-President Roosevelt,
enters the main approach, in front of our camera, then it wheels to
the left and passes into the Temple of Music. The participants in the
head of the parade are made up of distinguished people, such as Senator
Hanna, of Ohio, Senator Gallinger, of New Hampshire, Governor Odell,
of New York, and Mr. Conrad Diehl, Mayor of Buffalo. The military division
of the parade is headed by Louis L. Babcock, Grand Marshal of the Exposition
parade, followed by his aides, Lyman M. Bass, Dr. John A. Smith, Sherman
R. Hall, Dr. Harry Meade, Evan Hollister, Frederick DeP. Townsend, Robert
W. Pomeroy, Henry Robbas, Captain H. A. Bull, James McC. Mitchell, Roland
Crangle, George W. Gillette, Edward M. Mills. These are followed by
the first division, consisting of the 71st Regiment Band, Brigadier
General S. L. Welch, commanding the 4th Brigade, N.G.N.Y., and staff.
This picture was taken on the official opening day, May 20th, when there
were 106,000 people on the grounds, and the picture is greatly enhanced
by the great crowds passing to and fro.
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Exposition Universelle (Paris World's Fair), 1900
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Pan-American Exposition, 1901
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Charleston Exposition, 1901-1902
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Coney Island, 1903-1904
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Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904
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Panama Pacific Exposition, 1915
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