Arrangements for the Centennial.
The Director General of the United States Centennial Commission has sent us the following with a request that we publish it for the purpose of laying before our readers much-needed information in reference to the coming exhibition. We give it not alone on this account, but because it will be of interest to all our subscribers to learn more of the gigantic preparations which are being made to celebrate the hundredth year of American independence. The Act of Congress which provided for “celebrating the one-hundredth Anniversary of American Independence, by holding an International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine,” authorized the creation of the United States Centennial Commission, and entrusted to it the management of the Exhibition. This body is composed of two Commissioners from each State and Territory, nominated by the respective Governors, and commissioned by the President of the United States. The enterprise, therefore, is distinctly a national one and not, as has sometimes been stated, the work of a private corporation. The Exhibition will be opened on May 10th, 1876, and remain open every day, except Sunday, until November 10th. There will be a fixed price of 50 cents for admission to all the buildings and grounds. The Centennial grounds are situated on the western bank of the Schuylkill River, and within Fairmount Park, the largest public park in proximity to a great city in the world, and one of the most beautiful in the country. The park contains 3160 acres, 450 of which have been enclosed for the Exhibition. Besides this tract, there will be large yards near by for the exhibition of stock, and a farm of 42 acres has already been suitably planted for the tests of ploughs, mowers, reapers, and other agricultural machinery. The Exhibition buildings are approached by eight lines of street cars, which connect with all the other lines in the city, and by the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads, over the tracks of which trains will also run from the North Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore railroads. Thus the Exhibition is in immediate connection with the entire railroad system of the country, and any one within 90 miles of Philadelphia can visit it at no greater cost than that of carriage hire at the Paris or Vienna Exhibition. The articles to be exhibited have been classified in seven departments, which, for the most part, will be located in appropriate buildings, whose several areas are as follows:— | Department |
Buildings |
Acres covered |
|---|
| 1. Mining and Metallurgy, 2. Manufactures, 3. Education and Science |
Main Building |
21.47 |
| 4. Art |
Art Gallery |
1.5 |
| 5. Machinery |
Mach’ry Building |
14. |
| 6. Agriculture |
Agric’al Building |
10. |
| 7. Horticulture |
Hortic’al Building |
1.5 |
| Total |
|
48.47 |
This provides nearly ten more acres for exhibiting space than there were at Vienna, the largest International Exhibition yet held. Yet the applications of exhibitors have been so numerous as to exhaust the space, and many important classes of objects must be provided for in special buildings. An important special exhibition will be made by the United States government, and is being prepared under the supervision of a Board of Officers representing the several Executive Departments of the Government. A fine building of 4½ acres is provided for the purpose, space in which will be occupied by the War, Treasury, Navy, Interior, Post Office, and Agricultural Departments and the Smithsonian Institution. The Women’s Centennial Executive Committee have raised $30,000 for the erection of a pavilion in which to exhibit every kind of women’s work. To this collection, women of all nations are expected to contribute. The list of special buildings is constantly increasing, and present indications are that their total number will be from 200 to 250. Most of the important foreign nations—England, Germany, Austria, France, Sweden, Egypt, Japan, and others—are putting up one or more structures each, for exhibiting purposes, or for the use of the commissioners, exhibitors, and visitors. Offices and headquarters of this kind, usually of considerable architectural beauty, are provided by the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia, West Virginia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Delaware; and it is likely that others will follow the example. A number of Trade and Industrial Associations, which require large amounts of space, will be provided for in special buildings. Among these are the photographers, the carriage builders, the glass makers, the cracker bakers, the boot and shoe manufacturers, besides quite a number of individual exhibitors. The great demands for space will probably render this course necessary to a considerable extent, especially for exhibitors who have been tardy in making their applications. In the Main Exhibition Building, for example, 333,300 square feet of space had been applied for by the beginning of October by American exhibitors only; whereas, the aggregate space which it has been possible to reserve for the United States Department is only 160,000 square feet, about one-third of which will be consumed by passage ways. The Machinery Building, like the others, is already fully covered by applications. There are about 1000 American exhibitors in this department, 150 English, and 150 from other European countries—which is about 250 more than entered the Vienna Machinery Exhibition. Extra provision is being made for annexes to accommodate the hydraulic machinery, the steam hammers, forges, hoisting engines, boilers, plumbers, carpenters, etc. Power in the Machinery Hall will be chiefly supplied by a pair of monster Corliss Engines. Each cylinder is 40 inches in diameter, with a stroke of ten feet; the fly-wheel is 31 feet in diameter, and weighs 55 tons; the horse-power is 1400; and the number of boilers is 20. This engine drives about a mile of shafting. For the Art Exhibition, the most eminent American artists are understood to be at work, and it may be confidently stated that, especially in the department of landscape painting, the United States will present a finer display than the public has been led to expect. Quite aside from the contributions of American artists, applications from abroad call for more than four times the exhibiting space afforded by the great Memorial Hall. Provision for the surplus will be made in temporary fire-proof buildings, though all exhibiting nations will be represented in the central Art Gallery. The Secretary of the Navy has arranged that a United States war vessel shall call next spring, at convenient European ports, to collect and transport hither to the Exhibition the works of American artists resident in Europe. Among the ports thus far designated are Southampton for England, Havre for France, Bremen for Germany, and Leghorn for Italy, to which, if desirable, others may be added. Mr. Bell, the eminent English sculptor, who designed the groups for the plinth for the great Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, London, is reproducing in terra cotta, at the celebrated works in Lambeth, the one which symbolizes America. The figures in this group are colossal, covering a ground space of 15 feet square. It will probably be placed in the great central gallery, opposite the principal entrance. The Art Exhibition will include, in addition to the works of contemporary artists, representative productions of the past century of American art—those, for instance, of Stuart, Copley, Trumbull, West, Alston, Sully, Neagle, Elliot, Kensett, Cole. These, as well as the works offered by living artists, will be passed upon by the Committee of Selection, who will visit for the purpose, New York, Boston, Chicago, and other leading cities, in order to prevent the needless transportation to Philadelphia of works of art not up to the standard of admission. A large number of orders and fraternities have signified their intention to hold gatherings at Philadelphia during the period of the Exhibition. Among those which may now be enumerated are the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Grand Encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Grand Lodge, United States, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Grand Commandery Knights Templar; Grand Army of the Republic; Presbyterian Synod; Caledonian Club; Portland Mechanic Blues; Welsh National Eisteddfod; Patriotic Order Sons of America; California Zouaves of San Francisco; an International Regatta; the Life Insurance Companies; National Board of Underwriters; State Agricultural Society; 2nd Infantry, N. G. of California; Philadelphia Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church; Cincinnati Society; California Pioneer Society; American Dental Convention; Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America; Independent Order of B’nai Berith; National Alumni Association; Salesmen’s Association; 5th Maryland Regiment; American Pomological Society; Maltster’s Association of the United States; Army of the Cumberland; Humboldt Monument Association; Christopher Columbus Monument Association; Board of Trade Convention; International Typographical Congress; Rifle Association of the United States; Centennial Legion; Philadelphia County Medical Society; International Medical Congress; Old Volunteer Fire Department of Philadelphia.