Three million visitors attended the Irish International Exhibition from May to November 1907 at the 30-acre site we now know as Herbert Park, Ballsbridge. This was a very exciting and important event following as it did in the footsteps of other great exhibitions in European capitals.

The doors were flung open at exactly midday in bright sunshine on 4th May, to a fanfare as their excellencies, the Lord Lieutenant, Governor of Ireland and the Countess of Aberdeen arrived behind such other dignitaries, including Marquis, Marchionesses, Earls and Knights from the British empire. All were seen passing through the main gate at Morehampton Road of the Irish International Exhibition of 1907, a century ago.

On the opening day, the scene in the concert hall was a memorable one. On the spacious platform were the band and chorus of some 600 performers, under the directorship of Barton McGuckin, the leader being Patrick Delaney.

There was a grand organ recital by Brendan Rogers, the organist of the Pro-Cathedral. Miss Bell, resident organist at Star of the Sea Church in Sandymount also played, giving the audience an idea of the power and sweetness of the king of instruments, the brand new organ in the concert hall.

Crowds which gathered around the entrance from much earlier were wearing morning dress as was the fashion of the day, with the ladies decked out in their best dresses and most stylish seasonal attire to watch the procession.

The focal point of the exhibition was an enormous central palace with four wings representing the provinces of Ireland.

This palace was 45 metres high (150 feet) and it took five years to construct the massive stands and entertainments where all of the British empire was represented including a full-scale Somali village that was occupied by natives working and living as they would at home in Africa and producing their crafts, tools and clothing.

This stand proved to be of huge interest to the 2,751,113 visitors in all during the six months that the exhibition lasted. So much so, that it became the most profitable stand, earning £9,601 in sales of its pottery and other native goods. The ‘Irish Times’ reported ‘The Somali potter was of a cheery temperament and lightened his toil with the wild songs of his native land’.

This massive undertaking, comprising the front palace and all the other exhibition buildings which would impress even today, transformed the 30-acre site at Ballsbridge into a gleaming white series of domes housing the Palace of Industries, the Palace of Fine Arts, French Pavilion and Concert Hall.

After the Somali village, the Canadian water-chute came second in terms of profitability, costing £3,000 and taking in £7,000. This feature consisted of a tall tower standing about 90 feet high with a ramp, making a spectacular waterslide, leading down eventually to the pond.

People would climb the tower, enter a small boat with room for about 8 people. The boat then slid ‘faster and faster’ down the ramp and hit the water, then it skimmed to the surface, to travel under two bridges and finally come safely to a halt at the far end of the pond. Imagine the squeals of excitement from those on board!

A competition to find the best worker’s cottage was held. The winning design selling at £135 was a type still to be seen in some parts of County Dublin. One enterprising builder named William Pickering had a stand in which models of homes he had for sale could be seen. This advertising gimmick was so successful that he built several of the houses around Dublin. One of them can be seen at 18 Park Drive in Ranelagh.

At the beginning of the exhibition three English pickpockets were arrested outside the grounds by D.J. Jauncey of the Manchester City Police, who followed them from England and nabbed them on their first day in Dublin.

The closing of the great exhibition was held on Saturday 9th November 1907 in the concert hall in the presence once more of their Excellencies the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess of Aberdeen.

The exhibition was dismantled and sold off piecemeal over the next eighteen months and eventually the 32-acre Herbert Park as we know it today was built.

The pond at the end of the water chute is the only reminder of those days and the quiet groves and pathways in the park make it hard to imagine the hustle and bustle of those six months in 1907.