{"id":18821,"date":"2025-06-27T10:34:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T10:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18821\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T10:34:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T10:34:12","slug":"the-1876-worlds-fair-in-philly-celebrated-americas-first-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/18821\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1876 World\u2019s Fair in Philly celebrated America\u2019s first century"},"content":{"rendered":"

John L. Campbell could not have anticipated what he started.<\/p>\n

Campbell, a professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, wrote to both the Smithsonian Institution and the Mayor of Philadelphia in December 1866, suggesting the country hold a World\u2019s Fair in Philadelphia in 1876, which would also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the nation\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia took him up on his suggestion. The rest, as they say, is history. The fair was a smashing success, celebrating the nation\u2019s spirit as well as its industrial and entrepreneurial genius \u2014 it\u2019s where Alexander Graham Bell introduced the world to the telephone \u2014 and eventually led to two additional national \u201cbirthday parties,\u201d which will be covered in later installments in this series, as well as another coming in 2026. It also served as an important inflection point in the path toward women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

But first, let\u2019s return to 1876, when at least 9.8 million people paid 50 cents to attend the fair, held on the Fairmount Park grounds, then the largest urban open space in the nation. An additional two million people attended but were not charged for tickets.<\/p>\n

President Ulysses S. Grant was on hand on May 10, 1876 to open the event, along with Brazil\u2019s Emperor Dom Pedro II. Grant was not in the city on July 4 of that year, much to Philadelphia\u2019s consternation, but he did attend the closing ceremonies in November. The Centennial was considered a success \u2013 it did not lose money (it even made a tiny profit) and it showed Americans what the future would hold.<\/p>\n

Competition for the party<\/p>\n

Looking back, celebrating the birth of America on its 100th birthday in Philadelphia might seem a no-brainer, but New York and Boston both made efforts to host the party, according to Lori Salganicoff, an urban planner and self-described \u201cPhiladelphia enthusiast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere had been some jockeying by some places, New York in particular, to host it,\u201d Salganicoff said. \u201cInitial public discussion and dissent over the exhibition site cooled media interest in the celebration, with some advocating for Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York and St. Louis over Philadelphia. This, and the financial panic of 1873, challenged fundraising and organizing, among other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI found an entertaining, salty advertisement out of New York City, wrongly describing that Philadelphia was an inferior choice compared to New York,\u201d she continued. \u201cBut in addition to being the city with the \u2018room where it happened,\u2019 Philadelphia offered the site of Fairmount Park, an excellent transportation network, citywide charm and had a precedent for a smaller fair in 1864 that succeeded due to a combination of public, private and commercial efforts. New York\u2019s own fair precedent had not been successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1871, with support from prominent businessmen such as John Wanamaker, local political leaders and the Franklin Institute, the city and state successfully petitioned Congress to authorize the Centennial and set up a commission to oversee planning and implementation, Salganicoff said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The main exhibition building, which enclosed more than 21 acres, was the largest building ever built when it was opened for the 1876 World\u2019s Fair. (Smithsonian Institution)<\/p>\n

That year, Congress passed legislation to hold an \u201cExposition of American and Foreign Arts, Products and Manufacture,\u201d establishing the U.S. Centennial Commission after it was presented with a plan that proposed a theme of patriotism, American industrial skill and national unity. President Grant appointed commissioners from each state and territory, with recommendations from their governors.<\/p>\n

The Centennial, she said, \u201cformally named the \u2018The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine,\u2019 was different from prior world\u2019s fairs as its original stated purpose was not a commercial one, but rather a commemoration to the founding of a nation of free people, and to progress in human ingenuity \u2014 an exhibition of resources and resourcefulness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the exhibitors at the fair was Bell, who showed off his latest invention, the telephone, for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

\"\"The right arm and torch of Statue of Liberty as displayed at the 1876 exposition. The Statue of Liberty was erected in 1886. (Courtesy of the New York Public Library)<\/p>\n

Congress had originally not appropriated any funds, having left that to the U.S. Centennial Commission, but it\u00a0 was not up to the task. The City of Philadelphia kicked in $1.5 million, Pennsylvania granted $1 million, and Congress voted for a \u201cloan\u201d of $1.5 million, which the city thought they would not have to repay, but eventually it was paid back. Congress also created the Centennial Board of Finance in June 1872 to raise funds through the sale of stock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Almost 250 buildings were constructed for the event, across 236 acres in Fairmount Park. Four remain today.<\/p>\n

More than 30 countries sent contributions to the Exhibition, and rulers from as far away as Brazil traveled to Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty was put on display at the Centennial. The statue was completed and erected in New York in 1886.<\/p>\n

The centerpiece of Machinery Hall and the most popular exhibit was the Corliss engine. Novelist William Dean Howels wrote of it in \u201cHarper\u2019s Weekly\u201d magazine: \u201c(Rising) loftily in the center of the huge structure, an athlete of steel and iron with not a superfluous ounce of metal on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Corliss Engine was among the inventions that astounded visitors. (Library of Congress)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a time of great scientific, transportation and industrial progress around the world, and all were hungry to learn from and share their own proud innovations with others. Also at play were political efforts to reconstruct the U.S. after the Civil War, political reunification of the North and South, the panic of 1873, and the burgeoning age of industrialism,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s renowned artist Thomas Eakins painted The Gross Clinic for the Centennial. It pictured a medical operation and is considered one of the iconic pieces of American art, but\u00a0 was denied installation at the Centennial Art Gallery (later Memorial Hall) because it was considered too graphic. Instead, the painting was hidden away in a corner of the U.S. Army Post Hospital exhibits elsewhere at the fair.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Women and the Centennial exhibition<\/p>\n

According to Salganicoff, another significant political aspect was the treatment and presence of women in the Centennial. For leaders of the women\u2019s rights movement, there was a tension over whether to make the best of what was offered by focusing on women\u2019s achievements, or use the opportunity to fight for women\u2019s right to vote and hold public office.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers of the National Woman Suffrage Association \u2014 led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage \u2014 thought avoiding political activism during the Centennial was a mistake as it acquiesced to a patriarchal social order. They saw the Centennial as an opportunity to draw attention to women\u2019s suffrage, and members of the group crashed the July 4 festivities at Independence Hall to present the \u2018Declaration of the Rights of Women\u2019 to a surprised Vice President Thomas Ferry,\u201d Salganicoff added.<\/p>\n

\"\"An image of the Women\u2019s Pavilion at the 1876 World\u2019s Fair. (Courtesy of Wikimedia)<\/p>\n

Another group of women, she said, led by Elizabeth Duane Gillespe, a great-granddaughter of Ben Franklin, took advantage of this as an opportunity for better control and impact within imposed constraints, raising funds for the building and exhibiting of inventions and creative works that many found revelatory. More than 75 women exhibited inventions for which they had secured patents; the steam engine powering the exhibits in the Pavilion was run by a young woman named Emma Allison.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main activity of this Women\u2019s Centennial Committee was to organize a special exhibit of women\u2019s work, for which ample space had originally been reserved and promised in the Main Building. In June 1875, however, the men of the Centennial Commission advised female organizers that this display was no longer possible. Requests from foreign exhibitors had multiplied so rapidly that the area allotted to each applicant had to be substantially limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith less than a year before opening, they were told that if women hoped to exhibit their work, they would have to erect a separate building for its display and bear the entire cost themselves,\u201d Salganicoff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Women\u2019s Centennial Committee set in motion its successful fundraising machinery for its own building. Appeals were made, through local committees, to the women of the various states and territories. The response was so favorable that in less than four months the entire cost of $31,160 for the Woman\u2019s Building had been raised and construction begun. Thousands of additional dollars were obtained to meet related expenses for the rest of the fair. Promoters, for instance, paid famous composer Richard Wagner $5,000 in gold to compose the \u2018Centennial Inauguration March,\u2019 and they sponsored a woman\u2019s journal, a kindergarten, a Catalogue of Charities, a national cookbook, and a series of symphony concerts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the start, this group of Centennial women expressed their greatest concern over the question of women\u2019s advancement. They published The New Century, an eight-page weekly paper, printed at the Woman\u2019s Building and financed entirely by the Women\u2019s Centennial Committee,\u201d said Salganicoff. \u201cThis pro-feminist journal, edited by Sarah Hallowell of Philadelphia, attacked the cultural and institutional barriers which prevented women from obtaining equality and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper called for women\u2019s financial autonomy and insisted upon equitable compensation and opportunity for all female endeavors.<\/p>\n

\"\"Memorial Hall, built for the 1876 World\u2019s Fair, now is home to the Please Touch Museum. (Library of Congress)<\/p>\n

A celebration of progress<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the \u201cIllustrated History of the Centennial Exhibition,\u201d James D. McCabe wrote of his hope that America\u2019s material progress would be hastened by the exhibition:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe farmer saw new machines, seeds and processes; the mechanic, ingenious inventions and tools, and products of the finest workmanship; the teacher, the educational aids and system of the world; the man of science, the wonders of nature and the results of the inventions of the best brains of all lands. Thus each returned to his home with a store of information available in his own special trade or profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

After it ended, most of the exhibition\u2019s buildings were torn down or moved. Memorial Hall and the Horticulture Hall remained. The horticultural building was demolished after suffering damage from Hurricane Hazel in the 1950s. Memorial Hall is now the home of the Please Touch Children\u2019s Museum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two smaller buildings, referred to as \u201ccomfort stations,\u201d\u00a0 are now used for storage. Of the 27 states that sent houses, only the one from Ohio is still standing. Made of marble and other stones culled from 21 quarries in the state, each quarry placed a stone with its name engraved in it on the house. Today, the building is the home of the Conservancy of Fairmount Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John L. Campbell could not have anticipated what he started. Campbell, a professor of mathematics, natural philosophy, and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,17803,472,10832,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,17804],"class_list":{"0":"post-18821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-historic-philadelphia","10":"tag-history","11":"tag-inventions","12":"tag-pa","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-worlds-fair"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114754884448791117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}