Centennial 1876

Some Engines!

On opening day of America's 1876 Centennial Expositions in Philadelphian the huge Corliss engine loomed over all the other machines that had been gathered for the occasion. Nearly 70 feet tall and weighing more than 650 tons, it was the largest steam engine ever built. Not for show only, the Corliss produced enough horsepower--1400 units of it, generated by the engine's 56-ton, 30-foot-in-diameter gearwheel-to power the Exposition's entire Machinery Hall. The Corliss clearly symbolized America's unlimited potential as it came of age in the post-Civil War eras.

[Corliss Steam Engine]

There were thousands of others less imposing but equally fascinating objects on hand at Philadelphia's Fairmount Park that day, and Smithsonian Assistant Secretary Spencer Fullerton Baird knew it. As a naturalist, he immediately recognized the Exposition's importance as an unparalleled source for natural history specimens from around the world that could enrich the Institution's fledgling collections. With this in mind and the Exposition underway, Baird and his assistants William P. Blake and Thomas Donaldson, quietly persuaded representatives of both foreign countries and American states to donate material. Soon after the Centennial celebration closed, some 60 boxcars full of new acquisitions for the Smithsonian arrived in Washington. In fact so much new material was garnered that the first National Museum was built on the Mall just to house and present it.

One hundred years later in May 1976, in this same building now called Arts and Industries, the Smithsonian gathered some 30,000 objects of the centennial period, and, in its largest special exhibition ever, celebrated the nation's 200th birthday by recreating the atmosphere of the Philadelphia Exposition. About 500 Smithsonian staffers, dressed in period costumes that were supplied by a professional designer, lent the exhibition an added air of authenticity. Many of the artifacts on display in the "1876" exhibits however had been loaned to the Smithsonian from outside sources for when the Institution's collections had been searched in preparation for the exhibition, few objects from the Exposition were found.

As for the inimitable Corliss, industrialist George Pullman bought it in 1880, four years after the Exposition; had it shipped to Chicago in 35 boxcars; and used it to power his sleeping-car works. After 30 years of grand service in the name of progress it was sold as junk for $8 a ton.