The Centennial (part 2)

Mar 28, 20212 min read

It's hard to underestimate how important the Centennial was to the United States. Coming just ten years after the end of the Civil War, it put the country on the world stage.

In an era when the United States was not considered a nation on a par with European or Asian powers, the Centennial with its industrial might on display, astonished visitors and heads of state of foreign nations. These exhibits, including the telephone, phonograph, the Colt repeating pistol, and most of all, the Corliss engine, showed the world that not only was a nation still recovering from Civil War an equal to them in innovation and power, but had the potential to be the most powerful nation on earth.

For all the Centennial did for U.S. manufacturing and national pride, it was not without issues. The Women's Committee was instrumental in fundraising for the Centennial Exposition. But, the women were forced into last minute additional fund-raising to build a separate Women's Pavilion as space in the main building promised to them was lacking. The Women’s Pavilion, a first for a world's fair, was a popular attraction, with demonstrations of women’s contributions to the arts, sciences, education, and industry. While women raised a lot of money for the Centennial, they were largely left out of the decision making process. Also, no women artists were represented in the Memorial Hall Art Exhibit.

Staged in the final year of U.S. Grant’s presidency, which marked the end of Reconstruction, racial healing was not on the Centennial’s agenda. An explicit purpose of the Centennial Exposition actually was postbellum reconciliation. Black representation in all aspects of the Centennial Exposition was minimal. The only jobs available to the few blacks who were employed at the Centennial were menial—waiters, janitors, and messengers. African Americans who tried to participate in fundraising efforts for the celebration met with discrimination, insult, and even physical injury. Frederick Douglass, arguably the greatest orator of his time, was invited to sit on the main platform on opening day, but was not invited to speak.

The organizers of the Centennial Exposition and city authorities planned to leave two great buildings in place as permanent memorials to the great fair: Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall. Memorial Hall still stands, but Horticultural Hall, built in the Moorish style, quickly deteriorated. By 1910, there was fear of the building's collapse. It continued to deteriorate and was finally demolished in 1955 after Hurricane Hazel, the decade’s most destructive storm, blew out the glass panes in the building’s roof.