
The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition,
acronym AYP or AYPE, was a
world's fair held in
Seattle in 1909 publicizing the development of the
Pacific Northwest. It was originally planned for 1907 to mark the 10th anniversary of the
Klondike Gold Rush, but the organizers learned of the
Jamestown Exposition being held that same year and rescheduled.
The fairgrounds became the campus of the
University of Washington.
Planning

Godfrey Chealander proposed the idea for the fair. Chealander was then Grand Secretary of the
Arctic Brotherhood, was involved in the
Alaska Territory exhibit at the 1905
Lewis and Clark Exposition in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon. Originally, he pitched William Sheffield of the Alaska Club and James A. Wood, city editor of the ''
Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...
'' on the idea of a permanent exhibit in Seattle about Alaska. This merged with Wood's desire for an exposition to rival Portland. They soon gained the backing of ''Times'' publisher
Alden J. Blethen—remarkably, for the time, without gaining the opposition of the rival ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer''. Among other early proponents of the exposition was John Edward Chilberg, one of a line of prominent Seattle merchants in the
Chilberg
Chilberg (alternate spellings include Killberg and Kylburg) is a Swedish-American family that came from Knäred, Halland, Sweden, to America in 1846 with the boat ''Superb'', starting their journey in Gothenburg to arrive in Philadelphia. This fa ...
family, who was president of the Alaska Club, and was then given the title of president of the Exposition.
Edmond S. Meany
Edmond Stephen Meany (December 28, 1862 – April 22, 1935) was a professor of botany and history at the University of Washington (UW). He was an alumnus of the university, having graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 1885 when it was th ...
proposed that the exposition be held on the then largely forested campus of the
University of Washington, which in 1905 had exactly three buildings and little deliberate landscaping. At the time, this was considered rather far from the center of town, but Meany eventually sold the others involved on the idea that the forested campus could, itself, be an attraction for out-of-town visitors and that the
trolley
Trolley may refer to:
Vehicles and components
* Tram, or trolley or streetcar, a rail vehicle that runs on tramway tracks
* Trolleybus, or trolley, an electric bus drawing power from overhead wires using trolley poles
** Trolleytruck, a trolleyb ...
ride from downtown would not be an obstacle to attendance. Of course, he was also highly aware of what the landscaping and structures could do for the campus.
The
state legislature
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
endorsed the fair, with the proviso that it would produce at least four permanent buildings, and that any state monetary contribution would be focused mainly on those buildings.
King County
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...
(the county in which Seattle is located) stepped up with US$300,000 for a
forestry exhibit—the largest
log cabin
A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers.
Eur ...
ever built—and $78,000 for other exhibits. Because the original Klondike gold strikes had been in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
, the concept soon evolved to an "Alaska-Yukon Exposition"; later, at the behest of the
Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the "Pacific" theme was also added to emphasize the Oriental trade. The Exposition became known as the "A-Y-P" for short
Although the fair almost certainly could have been ready for 1907, it was postponed so as not to conflict with the
Jamestown Exposition. This turned out to be good fortune for Seattle, because 1907 proved to be a bad year for the economy. If the exposition had been held that year it almost certainly would have been a financial failure, rather than the success it was in 1909.
Design and construction

The
Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, were selected to plan the Exposition; the firm was already involved in planning parks and parkways for the City of Seattle.
John C. Olmsted
John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), was an American landscape architect. The nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, he worked with his father and his younger brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in their father's firm. After their fat ...
visited Seattle in October 1906 and saw the dominant form of
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...
toward the southeast. He selected the mountain as the focus of the primary axis of the Exposition. This axis later became the
Rainier Vista of the University of Washington campus.
The principal landscape architect for the fair was the Olmsted firm's
James Frederick Dawson
James Frederick Dawson (1874–1941) was an American landscape architect. His father, Jackson Thornton Dawson, was superintendent of the Arnold Arboretum, and Dawson himself was actually born in the arboretum. Dawson graduated from Harvard Unive ...
. His design centered on a long pool with a series of short waterfalls along Rainier Vista.
John Galen Howard's firm, Howard and Galloway, based in San Francisco, was chosen as supervising architects for the Exposition buildings. They designed several buildings and supervised construction of those designed by other architects.
The fairgrounds were entirely ready for the June 1, 1909, opening.
Exhibits
The only foreign countries to erect entire buildings at the fair were
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and Canada, but their presence was enough to validate the "Pacific" theme along with the US territory of
Hawaii and the
Philippines, recently ceded to the US by Spain. Other foreign countries were represented on a smaller scale. The very popular King County exhibit included a scale model of the
coal mine at nearby
Newcastle, Washington
Newcastle is an Eastside city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,380 at the 2010 census and an estimated 12,292 in 2019.
Although Newcastle was not incorporated until 1994, it has been an important settlement an ...
and
dioramas of several Seattle scenes, the originals of which were only a trolley ride away. The Woman's Building emphasized the role of women in pioneering the
American West
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
and in current charity work. The Pay Streak was Seattle's answer to Chicago's
Midway and featured games of chance and amusements. There was also a reenactment of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
naval
Battle of Hampton Roads
The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and ''Virginia'' (rebuilt and renamed from the USS ''Merrimack'') or the Battle of Ironclads, was a naval battle during the American Civil War.
It was fought over t ...
(the Battle of ''
Monitor'' and ''
Merrimack'').
Image:The Forestry Building of the A. Y. P. Exposition.jpg, The Forestry Building.
Image:HooHooHouse1909.jpg, The Hoo-Hoo House and Bastion, which became the UW Faculty Lounge until torn down and replaced mid-century.
Image:Alaska-Yukon-Pacific-expo-1909.jpg, Display of Southern California fruits.
File:Installing the George Washington statue for the A-Y-P - 1909.jpg, Installing the statue of George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
that remains on the University of Washington campus
File:Torii gate at south entrance, Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, Seattle, 1909 (AYP 174).jpeg, The Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese style torii gate at the South entrance
Opening ceremony
The gates opened at 8:30 a.m. on June 1, and crowds entered immediately. At 9:30 a.m., attendees watched performances by military bands from the Army and the Navy. Many sat in the fair's amphitheater, awaiting a signal scheduled to be given in Washington, D.C. At 3 p.m. East Coast time (noon in Seattle), in the East Room of the White House, President Taft sent the signal. He "opened...the Exposition...by touching a gold
elegraphkey, studded with gold nuggets taken from the first mine opened in the Klondike region." The telegraphic spark that Taft sent was received by telegraphers at the fairgrounds; as soon as it arrived, a gong was struck five times, a large American flag was unfurled, and there was a 21-gun salute, while other demonstrations of pageantry announced the official opening of the fair.
Attendance

Opening Day, June 1, was declared a city holiday, and 80,000 people attended. Attendance was even higher—117,013—on "Seattle Day". Other big draws were days dedicated to various ethnic groups, fraternal organizations, and U.S. states. By the time the fair closed on October 16, more than 3,700,000 people had visited.
Publicity
The fair had its own publicity department, and it used newspapers and magazines to promote the upcoming exhibition well in advance. In early 1908, Seattle newspapers reported that the publicity department was already showing positive results and the fair was earning many favorable mentions in publications all over the United States. The publicists stressed that this exhibition would be far better organized than 1907's
Jamestown Exposition, and would feature impressive entertainment. But what many newspapers found interesting was the assertion that this next World's Fair would not require any financial assistance or subsidies from the U.S. government; the only request made by the fair's directors was that the United States erect buildings and exhibits like any other country.
Throughout 1908, as each new exhibit was built and the fair gradually began to take shape, publicity about the fair's progress was sent out, and frequently printed, nearly verbatim, from the press releases. For example, the ''
Tampa Tribune'' in
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
,
Florida, printed a story about how the fair would have motor boat races: the article noted that the pavilion for the event was being built on "one of the prettiest spots on the exposition's shoreline." The article praised Puget Sound for being an area perfect for motor boating enthusiasts, and concluded by saying, "The climate is such that motor boating can be enjoyed all the year round."
By early 1909, the focus turned to who was going to attend, as many local newspapers in distant locations wrote articles about residents of their state who planned to make the trip out to Seattle. Also helpful was the fact that several major newspaper conventions were scheduled for the west coast, and the editors were said to be very interested in visiting the fair. The fair's organizers were also able to benefit from advertisements placed in newspapers by the railroads, which encouraged people to travel by rail to Seattle. One such ad, for the Great Northern Railway, promoted the train as the best way to enjoy a scenic trip: "an attractive route over the Rockies and through the Cascades" before finally arriving at what was sure to be "the World's Most Beautiful Fair."
Legacies

The primary physical legacy of the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition is the planning framework from the fair which continues to shape the University of Washington campus. The Rainier Vista and
Drumheller Fountain, the focus of the A-Y-P, are today the central focus of the Science Quadrangle of the university's overall plan.
Although most of the Exposition's buildings were designed as temporary structures, intended to last only for the duration of the fair, some were more permanent. The Fine Arts Palace was designed by Howard and Galloway as a chemistry building. It was used during the A-Y-P for the exhibit of art. After the Exposition was over, chemistry lab tables and other furnishings were moved in and it became the University's primary facility for teaching chemistry. The building was named Bagley Hall (after
Daniel Bagley) and retained that name until 1937, when a new chemistry building named Bagley Hall opened. The older building then became the home of Architecture and Physiology. The building survives today, albeit with extensive renovation and restoration, and is known as Architecture Hall.
The A-Y-P Women's Building also survives. During the fair it housed exhibits related to women. Today the building is named Cunningham Hall (after
Imogen Cunningham), one of only a few buildings on the University of Washington campus named for women. During the Exposition itself the building was clad in stucco; today it is faced in wood siding. The building now houses various educational and other programs related to women.

Other buildings from the A-Y-P survived for a time, but were subsequently demolished as the university grew. The Forestry Building was demolished mid-century after the natural logs of the structure proved difficult to maintain and few alternative uses for the structure were found. It stood on the site of the current
Husky Union Building (HUB). The original Meany Hall, the AYP Auditorium Hall, was damaged by an
earthquake in 1965 and subsequently demolished. Another example is the Hoo-Hoo-House, designed by architect
Ellsworth Storey
Ellsworth Storey (November 16, 1879 – May 28, 1960) was a Seattle architect. He is known for combining contemporary and historical architectural styles with local materials to create a regional architectural style that reflected the natur ...
, a clubhouse with reception spaces constructed for the
Hoo-Hoos, a lumbermen's fraternity. After the fair, this building served as the faculty club until it was replaced in 1958–60 by the current faculty club.
Another legacy of the fair was the enhanced status of exposition president J. E. Chilberg. Although a respected banker, Chilberg had never really been one of the city's elite. He was drafted into his position with the fair simply as a man who was known to be good at getting things done, but without consideration by the city's elite that they had just made an outsider into something tantamount to royalty for the duration of a social season. Suddenly, any party at their
First Hill home became a major event in the social calendar. He and his wife found themselves dining with a close relative of the
emperor of Japan and hosting a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
ambassador.
The
statue of William H. Seward, originally erected for the fair, now stands in
Volunteer Park.
William Boeing, founder of
Boeing, stated that it was during the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition when he saw a manned flying machine for the first time and became fascinated with aircraft.
Controversy
Labor objections
Because the Exposition buildings were built with non-union labor, various unions protested against the exposition in actions ranging from pamphleteering to boycotts. The Central Labor Council organized a protest march outside the grounds on
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
. The ''Seattle Socialist'' editorialized that the Exposition was, "a great fantastic monument to the brutal avarice of the capitalist class."
Human exhibits

A month-old orphaned boy named Ernest was raffled away as a prize. Although a winning ticket was drawn, nobody claimed the prize. The ultimate destiny of the child was still being investigated in 2009.

Other human exhibits included displays presenting
Igorot people from the Philippines as dog-eating, primitive people; the "Alaskan Siberians — Eskimos"; and a Chinese village depicting
opium dens and recounting the recent
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
. The Igorot exhibit spawned a letter of protest to the ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' signed by over 100 Filipino merchant marines, although some local resident Filipinos responded to the letter by defending the exhibit.
[
Premature babies were also displayed in French physician Alexandre Lion's incubators, decades before such systems were commonplace in hospitals. This display was not unique to the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition; babies had been displayed in incubators since the 1896 Berlin Exposition (and Seattle itself had seen at least two such exhibits before the A-Y-P Exposition). Given the robustness of the infants seen in photographs, there is some question as to whether these infants actually required extra care or if they were simply used for profit. Particular to this exhibit was a Baby Incubator Cafe which is seen in some photos, although historians are unsure if this was an actual cafe or rather a place to view babies feeding. At the time there was little in the way of protest from either fair-goers or physicians. In fact there was already a seasonal incubator exhibit at Luna Park in West Seattle, the Infant Electrobator concession. The babies were mentioned by name in the newspaper during their stay at the exposition and their medical state followed throughout. A specific point of interest was the range in ethnicity of the infants. No deaths were experienced amongst the babies at the exhibit.
]
Anniversary
The year 2009 was the centennial of the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition. The City and University held various activities to celebrate this anniversary.
A documentary was produced by John Forsen
John Forsen is a Producer/Director from Seattle, Washington. He graduated from Western Washington University, Western WA University in 1981. He has worked for PBS.org, PBS, KIRO-TV, KIRO TV and started MagicHour Films. In 2006 he produced th ...
called "AYP-Seattle's Forgotten World's Fair" for PBS.
On July 4, 2009, a group of 12 cyclists set off from Santa Rosa, California, on a 1,000 mile bike ride to Seattle, Washington, to support the disease Histiocytosis. The ride, title
Wheels North
was a centennial of the 1909 adventure of Vic McDaniel and Ray Francisco who traveled on bicycles to the Exposition. The ride ended at the Drumheller Fountain, in the center of Frosh Pond on the campus of the University of Washington on July 16, 2009. Drumheller Fountain is one of the last known remnants from the 1909 fair.
See also
* Century 21 Exposition, Seattle's 1962 World's Fair
* Statue of George Washington (Seattle)
''George Washington'', also known as the ''President George Washington Monument'', is a bronze sculpture of George Washington by Lorado Taft, installed at the University of Washington campus in Seattle's University District, in the U.S. state of ...
, a statue dedicated during the fair
Notes
References
* Max Johl, ''The United States Postage Stamps of the Twentieth Century'' (Lindquist, 1937), vol. 1, pp. 315–319.
*
External links
Pamphlet and Textual Ephemera Collection, items form the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition
– University of Washington Digital Collections
660 photographs of buildings, grounds, entertainment and exotic attractions.
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Digital Collection from the Seattle Public Library
95 articles, brochures, catalogs, directories, guides, reports, and other materials related to the Exposition.
Glimpses of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition
(1909); Digitized page images & text from the Library of Congress.
* — published for the Exposition.
AYPE.com
An evolving, non-commercial project of image display and text.
– approximately 80 links
"Alaska, Land of the Midnight Sun"
Sheet music of a song dedicated to the Exposition.
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909): Special Days
HistoryLink.org Essay 8461, 2008-01-17
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition
*
1909 in the United States
1909 in Washington (state)
1900s in Seattle
History of Seattle
World's fairs in Seattle
1909 festivals