Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)

Panama-Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco, Cal. in 1915, where Illinois had a visitors' building.

History of the Panama Pacific International Exposition

San Francisco hosted the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Officials from the Exposition printed postcards for the tourists who visited the Exposition. Because San Francisco suffered a major earthquake in 1906; and the earthquake destroyed many buildings, the postcards show temporary buildings built only for this Exposition. The buildings were torn down after the event. These postcards supplement other publications from the Panama Pacific International Exposition in Honnold-Mudd Library's Special Collections.

International fair and exposition.

International exhibition held in San Francisco to commemorate the completion of the Panama Canal.

Exposition, 1915; San Francisco, Calif.

An international exposition of culture, art, technology, and sciences.

Organizational History

The Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) opened in San Francisco, California on February 20, 1915. Organized to commemorate the completion of the Panama Canal and the 400th anniversary of Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean, the Exposition also came to commemorate the rebirth of San Francisco after the catastrophic earthquake of April 1906. Built, over the course of three years, on filled in mudflats, the Exposition comprised 635 acres of what is now known as the Marina District of the city. Over twenty foreign nations and forty-three states participated in the Exposition which had attracted 18,876,438 visitors by closing day, December 4, 1915.

The Panama Pacific International Exposition was planned to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914; 28 foreign nations and 32 states participated in the San Francisco, Ca. event. The design and layout, inspired by Ernest Coxhead, were innovative as the fair was laid out in courtyards designed by different architects. The exhibition buildings formed the walls of these courtyards. Each exhibition palace was surmounted by a central dome, with smaller domes at the corners of each building. States that had famous buildings, such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia, reproduced them by constructing smaller versions. For publicity, the Liberty Bell was transported from Philadelphia to San Francisco, making stops along the route. It arrived on July 17, 1915 to much fanfare and a speech by Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives. The exposition closed on December 4, 1915. Unlike most world's fairs, it had made a profit. Today, none of the buildings of the exposition survive, except the Palace of Fine Arts.