Philadelphia hosted the 1876 Centennial Exposition, the first major U.S. 100th-anniversary fair.
Officially called the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine, the exposition ran in Philadelphia from May to November 1876. It celebrated the centennial of the Declaration of Independence and displayed industrial products, machinery, art, agricultural goods, and international exhibits.
The fair was held in Fairmount Park, west of the Schuylkill River. Buildings associated with the exposition included Memorial Hall and the Machinery Hall. The event helped present the United States as an industrial and technological power, though it was a larger and more international exhibition than later anniversary observances such as the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition.