The Interstate and West Indian Exposition

Yesterday's post reminded me to look at what events might have been happening in Charleston, South Carolina when Agnes Atherton was producing her ten week run at the Star Theatre in the Spring of 1902. Between December 1901 and late June 1902, Charleston was host to the Interstate and West Indian Exposition, which was a World's Fair style event to stimulate business and trade through Charleston's port. This would have been similar to the Trans-Mississippi International Exhibition in Omaha, Nebraska in 1898, an event that Agnes definitely performed in.

Charleston, SC. 1902.

Agnes very likely attended the exposition in Charleston, and certainly would have entertained audiences who might also have been in the city for that event. The grounds became Hampton Park and the new campus for The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. A guest registry book of attendees from the exposition is available on The Citadel Archives, including one page with this great doodle of a cadet among the many signatures in April 1902.

Guest registry, Interstate and West Indian Exposition.

Season pass. Citadel Archives.