CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION, a World's Fair held in Philadelphia, Pa., from 10 May 1876 to 10 November of the same year. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of American independence, an association of Philadelphians in 1870 proposed an international exhibition of arts, manufactures and agricultural products, to be held in the city where independence was declared. Congress passed an act 3 March 1871, authorizing the exhibition and also appointed a commission of one member and an alternate from each State and Territory, nominated by the governors, to report on dates of opening and closing, plans for buildings, method of re ceiving and classifying articles, custom-house regulations. The commission was organized 4 March 1872; with Joseph R. Hawley of Con necticut as president; and on 12 May chose as director-general of the exhibition Alfred T. Goshorn. On 1 June Congress appointed a cen tennial board of finance, to raise funds for the exhibition. This board was to solicit subscrip tion to $10,000,000 of stock, and the corporators and subscribers were to elect 25 directors, who should apply the funds on the plans of the com mission. Of 227,940 individual subscriptions, Pennsylvania gave $1,749,468. The city of Philadelphia added $1,500,000; the State of Pennsylvania $1,000,000 more. Then Congress appropriated $1,500,000, besides $500,000, for a government building. Fairmount Park was selected as the site, 236 acres being used for the purpose of the exhibition. The buildings of the exhibition proper consisted of the main building (for manufactured products, mines and metallurgy, the public works of all nations, and a conspectus of science and education), built of iron and glass with masonry founda tions, 70 feet high, 1,880 x 464 feet, with cen tral transept of 416 feet and two end transepts of 216; Machinery Hall, 1,402 x 360, of wood and glass on masonry foundations,, occupying with an annex nearly 13 acres; Agricultural Hall, 820 x 540, of wood and glass; Horticul tural Hall, built by the city of Philadelphia, a permanent structure of iron and glass in Moorish 12th-century style; Memorial Hall, in tended as a permanent art gallery, of granite, glass and iron, in Renaissance style, 365 x 210 and 59 feet high, with a central tower 150 feet high, surmounted by a colossal statue; the United States Government Building, 504 x 306; the Women's Pavilion, an acre in extent, not only for the convenience of women, but for the collection and exhibition of their work; the Shoe and Leather Building and the Carriage Building, besides annexes. Moreover, 26 States
erected buildings of their own, costing over $400,000; and a number of foreign countries, out of 49 which took part in the proceedings by invitation, erected their own buildings. There were over 200 separate buildings in all. The admission fee was 50 cents! 7,250,620 paid it in full, 753,654 paid a special 25-cent rate, and 1,906,692 went in free, making 9,910, 966 admissions in all.
By the system of awards adopted the ex hibits — to the number of over 50,000— were divided into 36 groups, and these subdivided again and again into small sections. Each of the last was assigned to a special jury of awards, who had to make a statement in writ ing of the special merits they found in the articles which they esteemed best, and the uses for which each was best fitted, and to sign their names to the award: this left no room for carelessness or irresponsibility, and gave the maker the benefit of names of known weight. These judges numbered 233, of whom 118 were foreign and 115 Americans; included many of the ablest and most famous men of science and the professions and other great experts in the Western World; and the awards have been a source of just pride. Awards, consisting of a medal and diploma, were granted to 13,104 ex hibitors, 7,802 of whom were foreign.
The exhibition wa- a most important land mark in the industrial history of the country, and other countries. Not only did it make later ones possible and successful here, but it diffused inventions, broke down stolid self-conceit and immeasurably advanced the knowledge of all the nations which took part in it. For instance, the Bell telephone was first exhibited there, and gained immediate celebrity from Sir Wil liam Thomson's enthusiastic praise; and the American bicycle manufacture sprang from Colonel Pope's inspection of English cycles there. It showed European countries with new clearness the marvels of American machinery making, especially the immense development of mechanism with interchangeable parts, from watches to steam boilers and artillery. It made the first collection ever attempted of women's work on a large scale. It first made the beauty and grace of Japanese decoration and patterns. popularly known. It shed new light on art principles in general. It illuminated educational systems with light from foreign sources. No public or private money was ever better invested than that devoted to creating and profiting by this collection. The official account of the exhibition was published in nine volumes by the government in 1880.