The materials for the Samoan Village's huts arrived in the middle of November 1914 in about 200 great packages, and the villagers came on the next steamer. The Zone's 'native villages' generally did poorly, but the Samoans were more popular than most and stayed until September 1915. They then sailed home rather than risk being stranded until the gates closed. They took part in the Zone Day tug-of-war against Hawaiians, Filipinos and Maoris.
These villages put people on display as curiosities, a practice widely condemned today, and several of them ended badly.
At a glance
- Hut materials arrived mid-November 1914 in about 200 packages.
- The Samoans stayed until September 1915.
- Samoans joined Hawaiians, Filipinos and Maoris in Zone Day tugs-of-war, May 27, 1915.
Afterward
Villagers left in September 1915; demolished with the Zone in 1916.
Sources
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. II (1921), ch. XXIX, p. 158
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. II (1921), ch. LXVIII, p. 375
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), ch. IX, p. 63
- Map of the Zone concessions, spring 1915 (reproduced in 'Let Me Get There', USC Scalar), Spring 1915 map of the Zone concessions