SAPA Scholarship Quilt

Centennial International Exhibition of 1876

 

 

The center panel of the quilt is a ‘handkerchief’ souvenir from the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876. It shows the flags of the countries that were exhibitors. These were sold relatively cheaply so all attendees of the Fair could have something to take back home.  About 10 million visitors attended or the equivalent to about 20% of the population of the United States at the time. 

This was the first official World’s Fair held in the United States.  It was held in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from May 10 to November 10, 1876.  It was held to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine. 

More than 200 buildings were constructed within the Expositions’ grounds and they were surrounded by a fence nearly three miles long.  To accommodate all the out-of-town visitors, temporary hotels were constructed near the Centennial’s grounds.  A central agency made a list of rooms in hotels, boarding houses and private homes and then sold tickets for the available rooms in cities promoting the Fair. A small hospital was also built on the exposition’s ground.

The Exposition was designed to show the world the United States industrial and innovative prowess.  Technologies introduced at the fair included: 

·         The Corliss Steam Engine. 

·         The first automatic screw making machinery.  It won the Gold Medal in the first international watch precision competition. 

·         Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone

·         Remington Typographic Machine. (typewriter).

·         Heinz Ketchup

·         Wallace-Farmer Electric Dynamo (precursor to the electric light)

·         Hires Root Beer

·         Kudzu - erosion control plant species. 

Also on display were a reconstruction of a ‘colonial kitchen’, a Swedish Cottage, right arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty, and numerous exhibitions from eleven nations around the world, the United States and 26 of the 37 US states.