Metropolitan Fair

[2] In November 1863 the president of the United States Sanitary Commission, Dr. Henry Whitney Bellows, wrote on a paper called "Rough Hints" the main principles that needed to be applied to hold a fair in New York.

It is important to gratify the sober and to please the gay, to meet the views and approbation of the serious and utilitarian, while catching the eyes, the tastes, and the proclivities of the young, the light-hearted, the thoughtless, and the frivolous.

[2] These suggestions were accepted during a meeting between approximately fifty or sixty ladies, held at the Union League Club House, on November 21, 1863.

A prospectus was made and different committees were appointed to represent, to invite through advertisements and letters, and to collect contributions from trade and business interests in New York.

The Mayor of the city, Charles Godfrey Gunther, on April 2, in view of the important occasion arisen from the humanitarian labor of love of charity associations, had issued a proclamation recommending that the opening day of the Fair had to be considered as holiday.

And you may rest assured that the sources of consolation and comfort which you are opening for others, will be poured out in kindred currents of gratitude to you, to bless you with the highest and purest of all gratifications, — that of alleviating the condition of those who are suffering for a cause involving in its issue every element of civilization and of social order.

"[2] To this it followed a long applause and Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" and then the last speech was given by Mr. Joseph Hodges Choate in behalf of the Ladies' Committee.

Finally, after singing "Old Hundred" the crowd melted itself through the Picture Gallery, the Arms and Trophies Room, the Indian Department, the Curiosity Shop and the Restaurant.

At fourteenth Street there were the main buildings of the Fair - with a dome, forming a large bazaar, with adjacent sections used for exhibition of paintings and similar adoptions.

The Sanitary Commission, in line with the idea to allow children to have an active role in the fair, agreed to be responsible for the additional buildings, and the organizers gained permission to use part of Union Square.

Of that sum, one million dollars was paid to the Treasurer of the United States Sanitary Commission, on the 17th May, 1864, by order of the Executive Committee.