Centennial Exploration
History – Discovery – Invention
Throughout the new museum, families can explore and take in the magnificent architecture and history of Memorial Hall and the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Since Memorial Hall is one of the last remaining vestiges of this important piece of American history, a “journey” throughout the building aids in understanding the ‘who, what, where, when and why’ of Memorial Hall.
History comes alive when you step inside the bustling train station in the Centennial Exploration exhibit zone, filled with the sights and sounds of Philadelphia in 1876. Kids can immerse themselves in the life of the late 1800s. Children can play with a food cart featuring Hires Root Beer and other snacks introduced to the world in 1876. Kids can tap away at a typewriter, a novelty in 1876 and a relic of the past that’s virtually unknown to today’s kids familiar only with the keyboards of modern computers. In the model first kindergarten, kids can play with the same blocks that inspired Frank Lloyd Wright as a child. Kiosks demonstrate how the telephone was an important invention introduced at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. The Globe Hotel Dollhouse is modeled after the Globe Hotel, which was built across from the Centennial Exhibition’s main gate. Here, kids get a chance to play with a variety of furniture styles and dolls from around the world.
The highlight of this zone is the 20’ by 30’ model of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition Fairgrounds, created in 1889. In the mid 1880s, John Baird—a former member of the Centennial Board of Finance—started the ambitious project to record the history of the Centennial in miniature. Months of archival research and preparatory drafting led to the hiring of highly skilled mechanics to construct, carve and paint the fair’s 200 buildings and other objects depicted in 1 in 192 scale.
Location: Ground Floor Center Gallery
Focal Experience: Exploring and Information Gathering
Core Education Component: Social Studies, Science
Roles: Teacher, Student, Train Conductor, Artist, Architect
Icons: Model of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition
Subzones: Train Station, Centennial Model, Memorial Hall Journey
Size: 9,311 square feet