Mary Colter and World’s Fairs
Expositions and world’s fairs played a significant role in the early career of decorator and architect Mary E. J. Colter (1869 – 1958).
The 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia is considered the beginning of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United States. It helped create a market for hand-made objects at a time when mechanically-produced everyday items were readily available. By doing so, it opened doors for female artisans including Colter.
After attending the California School of Design and before her career with hospitality company Fred Harvey, Colter taught freehand drawing and literature at St. Paul, Minnesota’s manual arts high school from 1892 to 1907. Manual arts education was an outgrowth of the Arts and Crafts movement. Colter was deeply involved in the artistic life of St. Paul. In addition to teaching, she joined the Art Workers’ Guild, exhibited her artwork, helped organize exhibitions, and gave public lectures about art and art education.
Judges for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago awarded a medal for the work of St. Paul’s manual arts high school students. In 1901, when the Minnesota schools exhibit received a gold medal at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, the work of Colter’s students was called out by the local newspaper: “Especially is the drawing exhibit fine.…Much of this work has been done under the supervision of Miss Mary Colter, and credit due to her for the wise direction that has resulted in such capable work from the pupils.”
A newspaper report about the Minnesota building at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis read in part, “The exquisite furniture for the north parlor was designed by Miss Mary Coulter [sic] and executed by students of the St. Paul Mechanic Arts high school.” Colter would continue to design and select furniture after leaving her teaching career behind.
Colter’s artistic and decorating skills led to a position with Fred Harvey, a hospitality company that often associated with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. A 1914 article about the railway’s plans for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego described a model of the exhibit before stating, “The model was made by Mary E. J. Colter of Kansas City, who does a great deal of art work and decoration for the Fred Harvey system, from an outline and preliminary plan by Herman Schweizer.”
To accommodate the anticipated spike in Grand Canyon visitation owing to travelers stopping on their way to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the Santa Fe Railway decided to build two new rest houses and observatories there. Colter designed and supervised the construction of Hermit’s Rest and the Lookout eight miles apart on the canyon’s rim. The two buildings were operated by Colter’s employer Fred Harvey.
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Sources
“Five Fair Medals,” The Saint Paul Globe, June 17, 1896, 8.
“Pupils Handiwork,” The St. Paul Globe, December 21, 1901, 6.
“Minnesota has a Home at the Fair,” The St. Paul Globe, June 8, 1904, 1.
“Model of Indian Pueblo shows Santa Fe exhibit,” The San Diego Union, March 24, 1914, 1.