Spencer Collection of World and U.S. Historical Medals Including So-Called Dollars
MI-251/44 AR, Queene Anne's Bounty


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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description: BRONZE 1887 J-AM-85 WORCHESTER ELECTRIC EXHIB
Grade: NGC MEDAL MS 64
Owner: Spencer Collection
 
Set Category: Token & Medals
Set Name: Spencer Collection of World and U.S. Historical Medals Including So-Called Dollars
Slot Name: MI-251/44 AR, Queene Anne's Bounty
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

Medal, 1887, Bz, WORCHESTER ELECTRICAL EXHIBITION - The Rink - Horace Holly Bigelow, Award Medal to G. Tourtellotte. NGC MS64, Cert# 3045880-002. Historic Mint State Medal. Obv. Hand Holding Thunder (Electricity) in Center circle, legend around Worchester Electrical Industrial Exhibition; Rv. Worchester, Mass. at bottom, Awarded by H.H. Bigelow, at top, To: G. Tourtellotte, at Bigelow Rink Opened March 14, to April 25, 1887. History: In 1878, the LALIME brothers from Canada had built "THE RINK", a cavernous wooden building between Foster and Mechanic streets, designed for roller skating. The LALIMES hoped to attract only the better sort. They excluded "the rabble." Blacks, among others, were not welcome. By 1881, the RINK, for all its popularity, was in financial straits. Horace bought out the LALIMES that year and promptly cut roller skating prices by a third. He excluded no one. Roller skating quickly became a Worcester craze, with thousands propelling themselves around the hardwood floor. He bought five other roller skating rinks in other cities and quickly made them profitable. In Worcester, he added an outdoor swimming pool, fountains and concessions, all surrounded by a tasteful wooden fence. Horace's Garden fronted on Norwich Street and covered the whole block between Foster and Mechanic Streets. Thousands thronged through its portals each week to disport themselves and to watch various events, from six-day bicycle races to comic operas. On July 23, 1882, a Sunday, Horace put on an open-air concert at BIGELOW'S Garden. Proper types were aghast at this flouting of the blue laws. Union Church, then located on Front Street, complained to City Hall. Horace insisting that he had as much right to run his entertainment business as druggists had to sell cigars, and announced that a second concert would be held the following Sunday. That concert started off with two religious numbers, but was then closed down by the police. Horace was hauled into court. He lost the case, was fined $20 and appealed to Superior Court. His trials gave him a marvelous opportunity to stand up for the right of working people to enjoy themselves on the sabbath. It was no worse, Horace maintained, for a poor man to ride a wooden horse on Sunday than for a rich man to drive a real horse. Finally, after his appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court, the city decided not to press the case. By that time, 1884, Sunday was the biggest day at Lake Park and Lake Quinsigamond. Although he was deeply involved in public recreation, both at the lake and at the Rink, Horace found time to promote a new interest-electricity. Convinced that electric power was the road to the future, he installed a generating plant to illuminate the Rink by arc light. That was in 1883, a year before the Worcester Electric Light Co. began operations. Electric power expanded in Worcester, but much too slowly for Horace. In 1887, he held a mammoth electrical exposition at the Rink, with 140 exhibitors. Gov. Oliver Ames was there to pull the switch that set 140 lights a-blazing. A crush of people gawked at the spectacle of the industrial exhibits, all driven by electricity. An electric street car moved back and forth on special tracks, sparks flashing from its wheels. Horace saw the exhibition as a way to educate the masses. He told a Telegram reporter, "Every man, woman and child in Worcester able to do so will have an opportunity to visit the electrical exhibition at the rink before it closes. If they are too poor to buy a ticket, I will give them one; poverty shall not debar anyone from attending it if they want to." This medal freezes in time, the development of Electricity in Mass. and the spirit of enterprise that existed in the world of Horace Bigelow.

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