Philadelphia hosted the 1876 Centennial Exposition, the major 100th-anniversary event preceding America250.
Officially called the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, the exposition celebrated the centennial of the United States. It ran from May 10 to November 10, 1876, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia was chosen because of its central role in the founding era. The Declaration of Independence had been approved there, and the Pennsylvania State House stood as a powerful symbol of the revolutionary generation. The exposition displayed industrial, agricultural, scientific, and artistic achievements from the United States and other participating countries.
The fair introduced or helped popularize technologies including the telephone, typewriter, and sewing machine. Its buildings included Memorial Hall and the Main Exhibition Building. The exposition set a precedent for large national anniversary observances, later echoed by the 1926 Sesquicentennial and the 1976 Bicentennial.