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Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations was a World's Fair held in 1853 in New York City, in the wake of the highly successful 1851 Great Exhibition in London. It aimed to showcase the new industrial achievements of the world and also to demonstrate the nationalistic pride of a relatively young nation and all that she stood for. Jacob Aaron Westervelt, at that time Mayor of New York, was the President of the exhibition-committee[1]. The general superintendent was Admiral Du Pont.
The fair also included its own glass and iron exhibition building – the New York Crystal Palace – directly inspired by The Crystal Palace in London.
Walt Whitman, an American poet wrote the "The Song of the Exposition":
... a Palace,
Lofter, fairer, ampler than any yet,
Earth's modern wonder, History's Seven out stripping,
High rising tier on tier, with glass and iron facades,
Gladdening the sun and sky - enhued in the cheerfulest hues,
Bronze, lilac, robin's-egg, marine and crimson
Over whose golden roof shall flaunt, beneath thy banner, Freedom.
Today, the expo is also remembered as the place where Elisha Otis demonstrated an elevator equipped with a device called a safety, which would kick in if the hoisting rope broke. This addressed a major public concern regarding the safety of elevators. Three years later, Otis installed the first passenger elevator in the United States in a New York City store.
Adjoining the Crystal Palace was the Latting Observatory, a wooden tower 315 feet (96 m) high adjoining the Crystal Palace, allowed visitors to see into Queens, Staten Island and New Jersey. The tower, taller than the spire of Trinity Church at 290 feet (88 m), was the tallest structure in New York City from the time it was constructed in 1853 until it burnt down in 1854.[2]
Notable exhibits
- Elisha Otis demonstrated an elevator equipped with a device called a safety
- David Alter displayed a method to manufacture and purify bromine from salt wells, highly useful in the iron industry
- The world's first pedal quadracycle was shown
References
- ^ 18th Annual Report, no. 13 (1820) by the Bergen County Historical Society, page 61/62
- ^ Pollak, Michael. "F.Y.I.: Over the Bounding Pond", The New York Times, August 28, 2005. Accessed May 18, 2009.
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