Research notes

    I had the opportunity on July 22, 2022 to visit the University of California at Berkeley, Bancroft Library.  The Bancroft library houses the archives to the Panama-Pacific Exposition.  Since the idea of a trip to Berkeley on my own scared me I recruited my oldest son, Cliff, to be my chauffer and security guard. 

    The Bancroft Library is beautiful.  We arrived a few minutes early for our appointment so we strolled around for a few minutes and looked at the very ornate ceilings and large study halls.  It was a beautiful building.

    When we arrived at the library we had planned that we would be researching for the full day.  We were put into a glass study room so we could communicate with each other without disrupting the other patrons.  A librarian was stationed just outside our door to help us and to make sure nothing happened to the files we were searching.    

    I was hoping to find information in the files that contained the names of the baseball players that played during the Panama Pacific Exposition, names of teams and pictures of the players.  It would also be wonderful to discover some kind of relationship between my Grandfather Fred Cole and James Edward Sullivan.  James Edward Sullivan was the man responsible for all the athletic events during the Exposition.  We were disappointed to find nothing close to what we were looking for.  I had ordered five different files to be searched and we were done searching all of them by noon.  

    It was disappointing to not find any records at the library but since we were done so quickly we had more time to explore San Francisco, Fort Mason, the Palace of Fine Arts and Presidio Army base.  Our first stop was for lunch in downtown San Francisco.  We went to a little café named The Stinking Rose on Columbus Avenue and sat outside at a table on the sidewalk.  We ate the best calzones that I've ever tasted.  Then we walked down the street to the Greek bakery named The Victoria Pastry and I got to try cannoli for the first time.  We also strolled through the park and visited Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church.  It was beautiful.  

    My Grandfather, Fred Cole, was discharged from the army on April 3, 1912 Presidio Army Base, San Francisco, California.  At the time of his discharge San Francisco was preparing for the Panama Pacific Exposition to be held in 1915 and I believe Fred Cole remained in San Francisco and participated in preparing for the Exposition.  Grandpa always told his children that while he was in San Francisco he had played baseball and did some boxing.    A man by the name of James Edward Sullivan was put in charge of all the athletic events of the Exposition.  One thing we did learn in our research was that plans were being made for the baseball games to be played on the Polo Fields.  On this map you can see the Polo Fields in the top left hand corner.  Presidio Army base where Fred Cole had been discharged from was directly under the Polo Field.

    Cliff and I had the opportunity to visit Fort Mason (orange circle on right) and look up the Bay of San Francisco towards the Presidio Army base (on the left end of map). All the buildings, palaces, food and amusement exhibits constructed for the Exposition were all in this area.  The Palace of Fine Arts (in the center of the map) is the only remaining building from the 1915 fair and it has been rebuilt and repaired through the years.    

    The Panama Pacific International Exposition opening day was February 19, 1915 and closed on December 4, 1915.  The following is copied from the National Park Service brochure "Panama-Pacific International Exposition: The World Meets in San Francisco".  

    The Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which closed on December 4, 1915, was considered a commercial success: the fair made a profit of over $1 million dollars and received almost 19 million visitors. Sadly, the world had changed since the fair’s opening. Europe was now embroiled in war and by 1917, it would be America’s war as well. Demolition of the fair began almost immediately. The Company auctioned off fair exhibits, sculptures, structural elements, even whole buildings, for a few dollars and removed them from the grounds. What items the Company could not sell, they tore down quickly. Admission to the grounds was still allowed during demolition, but the atmosphere of the fair was gone. As promised, the significantly altered fairgrounds were quickly made available for new uses. The fair’s important infrastructure elements supported new development for a growing city and army posts returned to their pre-fair operations.

Read the whole brochure here:

https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/upload/PPIE-Brochure-FINAL-for-Web.pdf 

Why did Fred Cole choose to change his name?

     This question has been debated for the past few years as to why Fred Cole changed his name.  The very best idea that I have heard to explain why came from Cliff.  As the last paragraph stated that after the end of the Exposition the world was embroiled in war and soon America would be involved.  Discharged army men would be re-enlisted and called back into active duty in the army to serve their country.  We believe that Fred Cole changed his name to James Edward Sullivan and moved to North Dakota to hide from the army.  He didn't want to be re-enlisted.