Historic Hood River
Gardens at Versailles, circa 1900
9-20-2011
Notes
This image of the gardens at the Versailles Palace must have impressed the neighbors back home in Hood River. It may have been taken on the same trip as the image of the Paris Exposition of 1900, though it was taken on a different camera.
Charlott
Very interesting. What you see in the background is what is called "The Grand Canal. This water feature was 1,670 meters long and took 11 years to build. King Louis XIV actually put sailing craft and row boats on it. The Republic of Venice actually sent two gondolas and gondolers to row the boats. These men were house near the head of the Canal and that area became known as "Little Venice.:
They had the various sailing crafts, row boats, etc. on it in the summer. Then in the winter it became a skaters paradise. They also allowed sleighs on the ice when it formed.
Esther Smith
Looks like a Seurat painting!
l.e.
So, are we any closer to knowing why Paris Fair was called Paris Fair?
Or, maybe it is just me that doesn’t know why an early clothing store in HR would be named Paris Fair.
l.e.
Is this a glass plate?
Esther Smith
I’ll look in the early papers and see if it’s ever explained — as soon as I get a chance —
Arthur
Yes, this is a scan from a 5×7 glass plate negative.
Esther, while you’re working on "Paris Fair" keep an eye out for why a livery in the same era would be called "Fashion Stables."
Esther Smith
Will do — seems like I’ve probably come across that at some point but I seem to be sorely lacking in the RAM department.
Connie
I checked in Aakki-Daakki for Paris Fair. It has a great explanation of why it was built it and who built it. It originally housed the Odd Fellows on the third floor. No explanation of why they named it Paris Fair. It operated for 85 years of continuous business closing in 1989. There was a special article in the Panorama on April 12, 1989. Maybe that would have some clues.
Esther Smith
Sorry, the ’89 Panorama didn’t go into the reason for the name. And since the store opened in 1901 I won’t find it in our archives, which only go back to October 1905 (our first edition). One of these days I’ll try to look in 1901 Glacier papers to see whether anything is said about the name.
Barbara Parsons
My guess is that the city of Paris represented the topmost in apparel design for many years. You heard about Paris hats, Paris clothing fashions, and, by association, French lingerie and French perfume. The "fair" part probably refers, not to the carnival kind of fair, but to places where livestock, produce, and crafted products were for sale. Also, to get disgustingly bookish, the sounds of the two words together have an inner kind of rhyme, "Paris Fair" just SOUNDS attractive. That’s my guess, anyway.