John Robinson Whitley opened his Earl's Court exhibition and fair grounds here in 1887, with the entrance in West Brompton in Richmond Gardens at the bottom of Richmond Place, named subsequently, Empress Place in honour of Queen Victoria's visit to the grounds. His opening gambit was the American Wild West Show which coincided with the Queen's Golden Jubilee and featured William Cody, aka, Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley along with a cortege of First Nation Americans. After Queen Victoria's personal attendance with her cortege on 9 May, the show became a runaway success.