TRADESHOW HISTORY
The California Midwinter International Exposition
Bringing People and Business to California BOB MCGLINCY
In 1890, the population of the state of California was 1.9 percent of the United States. Over the next 30 years, the number of people in the state tripled, and, by 2020, California would be 12 percent of the total population of the country. The gold rush of 1849 started the migration west; but it was two international expositions in San Francisco that showcased the state to 20 million people and planted the seed for innovation and growth. Lighting the Way 1894 The California Midwinter International Exposition, held January 27 through July 5, was the first World’s Fair to open in the middle of winter and the first to be held west of the Mississippi. The fair was the brainchild of Michael H. de Young, the founder and publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle. 74 Oct/Nov/Dec 2024 Exhibit City News
A National Commissioner for the 1893 Chicago’s World’s Fair, de Young travelled east to Chicago as the financial Panic of 1893 spread west. People lost jobs and banks failed across the country, including in San Francisco. By 1894, unemployment nationwide would climb to 18 percent and the depression would last until 1897.
In May of 1893, as millions of people streamed onto the Chicago Fairgrounds, and tens of thousands viewed the California exhibit, de Young wondered if a similar fair could bring people and jobs to his hometown. His main concern: Chicago had years to plan, construct, and sell space in the exposition; he had seven months. Funding for the fair proved to be no problem. Convincing exhibitors onsite in Chicago to come to California was also an easy sell—it was a new market, the weather would be beautiful, and de Young offered to pay the shipping costs from Chicago to San Francisco for many of international exhibitors that committed to the show. One unexpected hurdle, however, was the controversy over the site location and the battle to build in Golden Gate Park. Groundbreaking did not begin until August 24. Amazingly, the Fair opened five months later, with pre-show festivities starting on January 15. Situated on 200 acres, the exposition attracted over two million people, with businesses from 38 nations, five states, and 36 California counties. Defying the depression, the exposition brought dollars and jobs to the area. It employed several hundreds of thousands of people (including construction personnel and the staff working the show) and the event made a profit of $66,851. Companies displayed textiles, machinery, mining equipment, bicycles, shoes, fruit, furniture, clothing, crystal, and pottery. In Chicago, de Young could not convince George Ferris to move his giant Ferris Wheel west, but a member of the Cal-
ifornia delegation volunteered to design and build a similar, but smaller, attraction: J Kirk Firth’s Wheel had sixteen cars, each rotating 10 people 120 feet into the air. In 1894 electricity was still a relatively new phenomenon. The illuminated silhouette of the expo at night was unlike anything previously seen in California. Two of the more memorable attractions were the Electric Fountain and Bonet’s Electric Tower. The Electric Fountain had water that shot 90 feet upwards and was floodlit by colored lights from below. Bonet’s Electric Tower was a steel structure, 272 feet high, housing the most powerful searchlight in the world. It was a third the size of the Eiffel Tower and at night, the tower blazed with the light of 3,200 sparkling incandescent bulbs. An electric elevator carried passengers to three observation areas, stopping at 91 feet, 147 feet, and 210 feet. The searchlight atop the tower was so bright that one reporter wrote, he “could read a newspaper at midnight ten miles away.”