March 9, 2025—Turning 100 years old is a big deal not only for individuals, but for a country. That’s what Americans thought in the 1870s, as the United States approached its 100th birthday in 1876. As we prepare for the 250th celebration of the founding of our republic, let’s take a look back at how our ancestors memorialized our nation’s founding then.
The initiative for federal sponsorship of a Centennial celebration came from the state of Pennsylvania,[1] which was not only the seat of the Second Continental Congress that passed the Declaration of Independence, but was also the center of the burgeoning industrial revolution in the country at the time. Pennsylvania Rep. Daniel Morell introduced the bill for the establishment of a United States Centennial Commission in 1871; passage came in 1872.
The huge Agricultural and Horticultural halls at the Exposition. (top and bottom respectively)
From the start, the Commission involved representatives from all the states. The president, Joseph R. Hawley, came from Connecticut. Congress created a separate Centennial Board of Finance to help raise the funds, since the Congressional bill had stipulated that no government funds be spent. The Finance Board was headed by John Welsh, president of the North Pennsylvania Railroad. As it turned out, the City of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania industrialists played the major role in financing the exhibition.
At the last minute, the Federal government did chip in a loan of $1.5 million, to make up for a shortfall. In toto, more than $6 million was spent.
What did the Centennial Exposition accomplish? As you will see in the elaboration below, it served as both a showcase for the stunning progress that had been made by the United States over its first century, and as a center of education and scientific collaboration for Americans and foreign visitors as well. More than 10 million people visited the Exhibition grounds in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park during its six months of operation (May 10 to November 10). Twenty-one U.S. states (out of 38) and 50 nations had exhibitions of some size; this extensive involvement created an ideal situation for peaceful interchange among citizens from very different backgrounds and nations.
The Machinery Hall at the Exposition (bottom) and the Women’s Pavillion (top)
And, as you shall see, in contrast to today, our country was interested in sharing its most advanced technologies with other nations, rather than try to restrict knowledge in order to maintain superiority.
Much of the information below comes from an 800-page commemorative book on the Exhibition, full of illustrations, published by the Hubbard Brothers immediately after the close of the event. If you wish to get a broader view of the hundreds of exhibits, you can access the book online here.
The Physical Layout
The Centennial was officially titled the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine. Primary responsibility for construction of the five main buildings, and the more than 170 smaller edifices fell on those in Philadelphia, under the leadership of city officials and the Franklin Institute.
The five main buildings were the Main Exhibition Building, Memorial Hall, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. They were supplemented by more than 150 smaller edifices, including ones dedicated to art, women, judges, the U.S. government, various of the states, and the participating nations. Each was stuffed full of the most advanced discoveries and inventions from their venues.
The Corliss steam engine featured at the 1876 American Centennial
Most striking was the huge Corliss Steam Engine, which stood in Machinery Hall and powered the approximately 800 other machines on the fairgrounds. Among the exhibited machines, some of which were newly invented, were sewing machines, typewriters, dredging machines, locomotives, the Gatling gun, and a wide variety of agricultural tools.
The Main Hall featured a wide variety of manufacturing, mining, metallurgical, educational, and scientific exhibits. Among the new inventions was Edison’s telephone. Memorial Hall was the location for art exhibits, including paintings and sculptures from all around the world. Agricultural Hall featured U.S. advances in that area, which had greatly increased since President Lincoln’s establishment of the Agriculture Department and Land Grant colleges. The Horticultural Hall showcased plants, flowers, and crops of all sorts, providing what the authors of the commemorative book described as full of “beds of verdure and perfume.”
The Centennial organ. Concerts were played daily.
The international participation came heavily from the British Empire, which took up one-fifth of the space in the Main building; exhibits from India and Great Britain took up half of their space. Textiles and machinery were featured. But there was also wide representation from the rest of the world, including Germany, France, the Russian Empire, South America, Japan, China, Egypt, Tunis, and Turkey. There was even a pavilion from Palestine. A sign of the times was the opium exhibit from China.
The Opening Ceremonies
The opening ceremonies and speeches give us an idea of how this celebration was viewed by the Commission. More than 100,000 people gathered in Philadelphia to witness the start of the six-month event. A huge procession took the visitors to the rostrum where the honorary presiders, President Grant of the United States and Emperor Pedro of Brazil, were to officiate. A Centennial Grand March was produced for the occasion by German composer Richard Wagner.
The Centennial Exhibition on opening day.
The lengthy prayer with which Reverend Matthew Simpson of the Methodist Episcopal Church opened the exhibition expressed the lofty aims of the event. He thanked God for “social and national prosperity and progress, for valuable discoveries and multiplied inventions, for labor-saving machinery relieving the toiling masses, for schools free as the morning light for the millions of the rising generation, for books and periodicals scattered, like leaves of autumn, over the land, for art and science, for freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, for a Church unfettered by the trammels of the State.”
Rev. Simpson went on to plead for a special blessing on “our visitors from foreign lands. We welcome them to our shores, and we rejoice in their presence.” He called for national unity as well: “Grant that this association in effort may bind more closely together every part of our great Republic, so that our Union may be perpetual and indissoluble. Let its influence draw the nations of earth into a happier unity.”
“May the new century be better than the last,” and may “principles of justice and equity” reconcile “diversified interests.”
Simpson was followed by John Welsh, the finance chairman, who made the following poignant remarks: “Many nations have gathered here in peaceful competition. Each may profit by the association. This Exhibition is but a school; the more thoroughly its lessons are learned, the greater will be the gain.” It is to be hoped that at its conclusion, nations will have learned greater respect for each other, he concluded.
Commission chairman Joseph Hawley came next. Five years ago, the President said that “the completion of the first century of our national existence should be commemorated by an exhibition of the natural resources of the country and their development, and of the progress in those arts which benefit mankind.” This we have done, despite the financial panic of 1873 and other roadblocks.
President Grant’s Opening Remarks
Finally, President Grant took the floor. Excerpts of his speech, the shortest of them all, follow:
My Countrymen: It has been thought appropriate, upon this Centennial occasion, to bring together in Philadelphia, for popular inspection, specimens of our attainments in the industrial and fine arts, and in literature, science, and philosophy, as well as in the great business of agriculture and of commerce.
President Ulysses S Grant
That we may more thoroughly appreciate the excellences and deficiencies of our achievements, and also give emphatic expression to our earnest desire to cultivate the friendship of our fellow-members of this great family of nations, the enlightened agricultural, commercial and manufacturing people of the world have been invited to send hither corresponding specimens of their skill to exhibit on equal terms in friendly competition with our own. To this invitation, they have generously responded; for so doing we render them our hearty thanks….
One hundred years ago our country was new and but partially settled. Our necessities have compelled us to chiefly expend our means and time in felling forests, subduing prairies, building dwellings, factories, ships, docks, warehouses, roads, canals, machinery, etc. etc. Most of our schools, churches, libraries and asylums have been established within an hundred years. Burthened by these great primal works of necessity, which could not be delayed, we yet have done what this Exhibition will show in the direction of rivaling older and more advanced nations in law, medicine, and theology, in science, literature, philosophy, and the fine arts. Whilst proud of what we have done, we regret that we have not done more. Our achievements have been great enough, however, to make it easy for our people to acknowledge superior merit wherever found.
And now, fellow-citizens, I hope that a careful examination of what is about to be exhibited to you will not only inspire you with a profound respect for the skill and taste of our friends from other nations, but also satisfy you with the attainments made by our own people over the past one hundred years….
When the President had finished, precisely at 12 noon, the dignitaries commenced a procession through the Exposition buildings, arriving eventually at the hall with the Corliss Engine. The Empress of Brazil then pulled the cord to start the machinery, and the event was on.
Final Comments
As far as I know, such an event as the 1876 Centennial has never been repeated other than in subsequent world’s fairs. The Bicentennial in 1976 featured tall ships, parades, fireworks, re-enactments, and the like, but no showcase of American progress, much less in combination with that of other nations. The upcoming Semiquincentennial (250th) birthday of the country is likely to be even more toned down.
That is a shame. Our nation’s stunning technological progress, with benefits for ever-expanding numbers of our people, has been one of our most glorious achievements. Equally important has been our willingness to share that progress with the rest of humanity. We can find those commitments eloquently expressed in the speeches opening the 1876 Exposition; they are notable for their humility, good will, and lack of national chauvinism.
It’s long past time we took up this attitude once again.[2]
[1] It is reported that Indiana college professor John L. Campbell first suggested the idea to the Mayor of Philadelphia is 1866.
[2] For more on the contrast between U.S. foreign policy of Grant’s days and that of today, click here.
