A rough cut of the film is online now, two hours and eighteen minutes, free to watch. The finished film is released here on February 20, 2027.Watch it →
288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915 ⌕
Gazetteer › The Zone
The Zone

Samoan Village

A village of Samoan huts shipped from the islands in some 200 packages, and more popular, Todd says, than the Australasian village next door in the Zone's run of "native villages."

A grass-thatched Samoan house on the Zone, with the villagers who performed there
A grass-thatched Samoan house on the Zone, with the villagers who performed thereThe Blue Book, official souvenir view book (Robert A. Reid, 1915), via Internet Archive / San Francisco Public Library · Public domain (published 1915, United States) · Restored

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.

Where it stood

Samoan Village stood at about 37.80210 N, 122.42758 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →

Sources