The United States was at a turning point as a nation. In 1890, the superintendent of the federal census had declared that the West had been so widely settled that “there can hardly be said to be a frontier line.” The taming of the West was symbolized at the fair in living form by Geronimo, the once-feared Apache warrior. Now aged 75 and a prisoner of the US Army, he was presented as the star attraction in the Apache Village—one of many exhibits purporting to show “primitive culture.” Also living on the fairgrounds were representatives of the Igorots, who occupied a re-created version of a village from the Philippines, which, just six years before, had become a territory of the newly imperialistic United States as a spoil from the Spanish-American War.
The US’s rising global ambition was reflected in the international character of the mile-long Pike on the north side of the fairgrounds, which was lined with cafés, amusements, and the food concessions where so many beloved treats were later alleged to have been conceived. In addition to typical fair fare, visitors could dine at the Chinese Village, the Streets of Cairo, the Irish Village, and the grand Tyrolean Restaurant, which sat 3,000 customers amid miniature replicas of the Alps.
