The first official world’s fair held in the United States was the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
Also called the Centennial International Exhibition, it opened in 1876 to mark the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The fair occupied Fairmount Park and brought together American, foreign, industrial, scientific, agricultural, and artistic exhibits.
Its displays helped showcase technological change in the United States. Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his telephone, while the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, sewing machines, machinery, food products, and electrical equipment introduced visitors to inventions and consumer goods. The exposition therefore served both as an anniversary celebration and as an international statement about American development.
The Centennial Exposition should not be confused with later American world’s fairs. The World’s Columbian Exposition took place in Chicago in 1893, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904, and the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901.