Pennsylvania, colonial and federal; a history, 1608-1903Editor: Howard MJenkins . he Commonwealth. For three or four years before this time,a centennial celebration was the leading subject in the publicmind. As early as 1871, Governor Geary referred to this matterin his message to the legislature. He suggested that an appro-priate celebration be held in Philadelphia. There, he said, theDeclaration of Independence was first promulgated, and thereshould be the national celebration of the one hundredth anniver-sary of the nations existence. A1x)ut the same time, the ideaof an international exposi
Pennsylvania, colonial and federal; a history, 1608-1903Editor: Howard MJenkins . he Commonwealth. For three or four years before this time,a centennial celebration was the leading subject in the publicmind. As early as 1871, Governor Geary referred to this matterin his message to the legislature. He suggested that an appro-priate celebration be held in Philadelphia. There, he said, theDeclaration of Independence was first promulgated, and thereshould be the national celebration of the one hundredth anniver-sary of the nations existence. A1x)ut the same time, the ideaof an international exposition was first discussed in the news-papers. On March 9, 1871, Daniel J. Morrell, a representativefrom Pennsylvania, introduced in Congress a bill providing for anexhibition in Philadelphia, which passed a year later. In themeantime, a committee of the City Councils took up the matter,and did much to arouse popular interest. In the spring of 1S7J,the Centennial Commission met in Philadelphia, and finally agreedthat the exhibition should be opened on .\pril tq. 1876, and closed. Hart ran tts Administration on October H). of tlic same year. A omniittce was a])pninte(l toraise suliscriptions. and by Feliriiary 22, 1873. the sum of $1, had been pledged. On Marcli 27. of tlie same year, the of Pennsylvania appropriated one million dollars to iheproposed exhibition, and thns its success was assured. On March16, 1874, it was decided that the construction of the necessarybuildings should begin at once, and on July 4 ground was brokenfor this purpose at Lansdowne, Fairmount Park. In all, therewere about 180 buildings erected within the Centennial grounds,five of which were great structures, in which were placed the vastdisplays. Governor Hartranft issued a proclamation, designatingSeptember 28 as Pennsylvania day. This was the most notableday of the whole exhibition, the attendance reaching 275,000 peo-ple. The Centennial jiroduced many good effects throu,ghout th
Size: 1373px × 1820px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorjenkinsh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1903
