The Southern Exposition was a five-year series of
world's fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
s held in the city of
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, from 1883 to 1887 in what is now Louisville's
Old Louisville neighborhood. The exposition, held for 100 days each year on immediately south of
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, which is now the
St. James-Belgravia Historic District, was essentially an industrial and mercantile show. At the time, the exposition was larger than any previous American exhibition with the exception of the
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
held in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in 1876.
U.S. President Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...
opened the first annual exposition on August 1, 1883.
Highlights
One highlight of the show was the largest to-date installation of
incandescent light bulb
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxid ...
s, having been recently invented by
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
(a resident of Louisville sixteen years before), to bring light to the exposition in the nighttime. The contract with the Louisville Board of Trade was for 5,000 incandescent lamps. 4,600 lamps for the exhibition hall and 400 for an art gallery, more than all the lamps installed in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
at that time, were used.
George H. Yater writes in his book Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio:
Image:Birdseye-southernexpo.jpg, "Birds-eye view of Louisville from the river front and Southern Exposition, 1883" by William F. Clarke
See also
*
Amphitheatre Auditorium, built with materials from the nearby dismantled remains of the Southern Exposition building
*
Columbia Building
*
The Filson Historical Society
The Filson Historical Society, founded in 1884, is a privately supported historical society located at 1310 South 3rd Street in Louisville, Kentucky. The Filson is an organization dedicated to providing continuing adult education in the form of qua ...
*
History of Louisville, Kentucky
The geology of the Ohio River, with but a single series of rapids halfway in its length from the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers to its union with the Mississippi, made it inevitable that a town would grow on the site. Louisvi ...
*
Louisville in the American Civil War
Louisville in the American Civil War was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theat ...
* Louisville mayors:
Charles Donald Jacob and
P. Booker Reed
*
March 1890 middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak
*
St. James Court Art Show, held in the same location
*
Thomas Edison House
References
*
Further reading
*
External links
"'Went to the Exposition Tonight': Louisville's 1883 Southern Exposition"— Article by Kathryn Anne Bratcher of The Filson Historical Society
"Southern Exposition: 1883-1887"— Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush
History of Louisville, Kentucky
World's fairs in the United States
Festivals established in 1883
Recurring events disestablished in 1887
1883 establishments in Kentucky
1887 disestablishments in Kentucky
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