APPALACHIAN EXPOSITION 1910

Charles K. Hamilton? - 1910 via email from Ben Humphries, 11-12-05      This photo was take by Mr. Alfred Buffat, who lived on Kirkwood Drive, in Knoxville, which is one block from the current Chilhowee Park. I think during the Exposition, the street was not there, and may have been a part of the Expo site.      He was a descendant of the Buffats for which Buffat Mill was named, just on the outskirts of Knoxville. They operated a huge Mill there in the large 1800's into the early 1900's.      The photo was taken in what was known as Cal Johnson Racetrack - which is now "Speedway Circle", which is about 1/8 mile from the center of the original Expo site. It is a residential area now , but the street actually follows the circle that was there in 1910. You can see the racetrack in the distance on some postcard renderings of the Appalachian Exposition. I have several and will send you scan later on this. (See Below).       History reports that a horse raced against a plane on the site, I think during the EXPO. I cannot date the photo exactly. I had to copy it by laying it on a table outside and hand-holding a 35 mm camera back in the mid-70's from a small photo pasted in a family album. I also have about a dozen photos he shot of the Expo site.      The original Exposition building burned in the 1930's and a concrete structure replaced it. Heat from the fire could be felt for two blocks.      That's about all I know about the photo... As far as I know, its the only photo of a plane from this era that can be placed at the EXPO site. Mrs. Buffat told me back then, that it was the first plane to land in Knoxville... there is substantiation that this did happened during the EXPO, but rather or not this is a photo of that event, I cannot say. Ben

 

APPALACHIAN EXPOSITION KNOXVILLE, TENN. SEPT. 12TH TO OCTOBER 12TH

COPYRIGHTED AND PRINTED BY CHAS. C. CULLEN & CO. INC. KNOXVILLE, TENN.

INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION via email from Ben Humphries, 11-12-05      Here is postcard I mentioned in my earlier email. If you zoom in on the card in the upper right, you can see the race track in the distance. Ben

 

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