The Centennial in 1876 included the showcase of modern machinery in Philadelphia. Remember, there were no machines to speak of just 50 years earlier. Manpower, supplemented by horse power, was all there had been. The Age of Steam brought about the Industrial Revolution, created larger cities, factories and changed everything we know. The Civil War had ended just 12 years earlier and the Indian Wars were still going on. Every picture you see of a machine was made without machining tools, computers or even the ability to improve on earlier designs. The cross country railroad was being built but rails still suffered from a lack of standard gauge tracks. Electricity and oil had yet to prove themselves as the energy of the future and were just beginning to be explored.
1876: The Machinery Hall at the Centennial Exhibition Philadelphia
“During the Centennial year of 1876, Philadelphia was host to a celebration of 100 years of American cultural and industrial progress. Officially known as the “International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine,” the Centennial Exhibition, the first major World’s Fair to be held in the United States, opened on May 10th.”
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Michael Bradley - Time Traveler 