It had started out on May 20, 2001 with great optimism of businessmen, politicians and the citizens of Buffalo. - A fair that would compete with the expositions held in recent years in Chicago and Philadelphia...

 

...A spectacle that would broadcast worldwide the taming of Niagara Falls to produce hydroelectric power, and its transmission to Buffalo to light up 40,000 lights on the 410 foot tall Electric Tower and hundreds of thousand more lights throughout the site built on the 350 acre cow herd pastures of the Rumsey family just north of the Olmstead park and lake. (Now Delaware Park and Hoyt Lake)....

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...A spectacle to boast of Buffalo's stunning economic resurgence after the Great Depression of 1893.

 

Average daily attendance was 8,000!! Each visitor left with not only the soap bar, but an invitation to visit the factory (i.e., what is now the L.C.O.C) which an article in the "Buffalo Courier" on October 6, 1901, called "one of the wonders of the city." The article went on to report , "Uniformed guides, appointed solely for the entertainment of visitors, take the sightseers in hand and lead them step by step through the great plant... Everything about the building is as clean and wholesome as modern science can make it...Everything is placed under the closest scrutiny and its purity is instantly apparent."

        

This very lengthy article goes on to explain the success of the Larkin Expo Building, saying: "It is like all other Larkin ideas. It is unique, original, adequate and perfect in its appointment...Probably no fact will appeal so strongly as the knowledge that so many from every corner of this broad land come to the building to see the display because they, in their distant homes, know the LSC and have direct dealings with and, indeed, feel a proprietary interest in it...'From Factory to Family' is the foundation of the idea which has built up this mammoth company and it is remarkable to see the 'Family' now coming to the Expo amid such realms of majestic beauty, such monuments of architectural magnificence and such lavish collections of colors and light, seeking out the 'Factory.'"

 

The article attributes the attention of so many people at the Larkin exhibit as more than the result of business relations; "it rather tells that in their dealings with the LSC, the people have received the full return of their contribution in plenitude."

The Rainbow City

Similarly impressed was one Hugo Loeb, a sculptor from Chicago who was apparently reviewing and critiquing the Expo. He took the time and made the effort to write a letter to the LSC on October 10, 1901, to extol the Larkin Building (at the Expo), saying," The liberality with which the handsome structure is endowed, and the courteous treatment which visitors receive, render it one of the prime attractions at the Exposition. Most striking to me were the immense crowds of visitors who continuously elbowed their way into the interior...One could not help being interested to note the homelike disposition the visitors manifested, - a conscious pride in their visit, as though they were calling at the home of some near friend."

 

"Upon inquiry," Loeb goes on to say, : "I was informed that the reason for this was the fact that the majority of the visitors were patrons of the house. Evidently their manner was an indication of the satisfaction with the just and kindly treatment of the firm in all of its dealings. In all my travels I have never seen such a manifestation of interest by a visiting public , as a compliment to a business house with whom they sustained relations of trade. This is one of the rare instances in the experience of the business world, and you may well be proud of such evidence of appreciation by your customers, since it shows conclusively that fair and legitimate dealing is appreciated, and that the public feels an interest in business enterprise conducted upon such a high plane of justice and courtesy." (Letter is in archives at BECHM)

 

The "Buffalo Courier" article of Oct. 1 elaborated on the fact that every room in the exhibit appears to be complete in every detail and every item in each room is either a Larkin product or premium. It addresses the question of how the company can afford to give away the premiums by describing the "Larkin Idea" of cutting out the middlemen.

 

Indeed, during the Expo, the LSC did a lot of advertising to address concerns that products and premiums might suffer in quality at such low cost. One such ad ran in the 

Sept. 1901 issue of "The Cosmopolitan" magazine. The ad was labeled, "The Larkin Soaps are made for USE, not for Dealers' Profits." Another ad in the "Buffalo Express" on Oct 14 pointed out that most manufactured goods are sold at 2 to 4 times the cost of production. "Each middle man adds his expense, his losses, his profits; all these are piled up on the retail price and must be paid by - YOU." A "Buffalo Express" article in that same issue noted that the LSC Pan- Am building was especially successful among Buffalo exhibitors.. It won gold medals in the manufacturing division, one for soaps and another for glycerine. A silver medal was awarded it for perfumes and many bronze medals were won for other products.

 

Margaret Creighton notes that the LSC executives felt that exhibiting at the Pan-American Exposition had been the best investment it had ever made. {p. 268)