#centennial exposition

[saturdaynightlivedork]

Anyone gonna tell them that Alexander Graham Bell was actually born in Scotland? 🤭

[rabbitcruiser]

Charles Elmer Hires sold his first Root Beer during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia on June 9, 1869.

[cincylibrary]

The 1888 Centennial Exposition in Cincinnati celebrated the 100th anniversary of the settlement of Cincinnati and the region.  The exhibition showcased the most recent developments in industry, science and the arts. The site for the Exposition included Music Hall and its separate but connected structures to the north and south, the Washington Park exposition building connected to Music Hall by way of a bridge over Elm Street, and Machinery Hall, approximately 1300 feet by 154 feet, built behind Music Hall over the canals. 

[historybizarre]

The Most Interesting Fruit in the World (Ep. 375) - Freakonomics

The banana used to be a luxury good. Now it’s the most popular fruit in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the production efficiencies that made it so cheap have also made it vulnerable to a deadly fungus that may wipe out the one variety most of us eat. Scientists do have a way to save it — but will Big Banana let them?

In 1876, the city of Philadelphia commemorated 100 years of American independence with a Centennial Exposition.

Virginia Scott JENKINS: Well, it was a big trade fair. It was like a World’s Fair. And there was a horticultural exhibit, and they had a banana plant with bananas growing on it.

That’s Virginia Scott Jenkins. She’s a cultural historian and the author of Bananas: An American History.

JENKINS: And they had to put a guard on it because people wanted to pick a leaf, or poke at it. Because people hadn’t seen one of these things.

The banana plant— and yes, it’s a plant, technically, not a tree; and the banana is technically a berry — anyway, this banana plant had stiff competition for attention at the centennial expo. Also on display were the right arm and flame of the Statue of Liberty, which hadn’t yet been erected in New York Harbor. There were the first public demonstrations of the typewriter and of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone. And: an appearance by the President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Still, the humble banana plant caused a stir, thanks to its novelty.

[smithsonianlibrariesarchives]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Find more satire and humor in Centennial Fun, [1876], a recently digitized item from our World’s Fair collection about the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, PA.

[lindalearcenter]

We came across Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Historical Record of the United States Centennial Exposition, 1876 while doing some research today, and had to share!

The Centennial Exposition was the first World’s Fair held in the United States, where it was visited by 10 million people from 37 countries around the world. This beautiful volume is embellished with more than 800 illustrations showing the immense scale of the Exposition, from planning logistics to the thousands of exhibitions that stretched across five main halls and 200 smaller buildings. 

We were particularly pleased to see a plate showing equipment and implements of the United States Life-Saving Service’s exhibition - an early predecessor to our Coast Guard neighbors!

[thisobscuredesireforbeauty]

The arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty, Centennial Exposition, 1876, Philadelphia. Source

[nemfrog]

“The Philadelphia Exposition. In the Machinery Hall.” The year-book of facts in science and the arts for 1876. Published 1878. .