Upcoming Event

  

As part of the 250th anniversary celebration of the U.S., the Society has mounted a new exhibit that looks back on local participation in the nation’s 100th birthday celebration. The exhibit features souvenirs from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia brought home by local residents Ezemiah Maughlin of Airville, Jacob Yost of Hopewell Township, and Dr. John Hyson of Hopewell Township and Red Lion. The exhibit also features the diary of Ezemiah Maughlin and her daily entries during her visit to the Centennial Exhibition.

Officially titled the “International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine,” the Centennial Exhibition was held from May to November 1876 and marks the first time the United States hosted a World’s Fair.

Thirty-seven nations participated in the event that drew close to ten million visitors from across the U.S. and around the globe, including residents of southern York County. Visitors arrived via modern conveyances like the railroad and steamboat, as well as traditional methods like carriages and horses.

While the event celebrated the nation’s 100th birthday, it also demonstrated that the U.S. had grown from a nation of rural inventors and tinkerers into a major manufacturing powerhouse. That manufacturing prowess was on display in the hundreds of buildings and booths erected by American businesses.

As York County resident Ezemiah Maughlin noted in her diary, the exhibition was “a Big Thing.”

The exhibit is open during the Society’s regular hours on Sunday’s from 2-4 pm.

As part of the 250th anniversary celebration of the U.S., the Society has mounted a new exhibit that looks back on local participation in the nation’s 100th birthday celebration. The exhibit features souvenirs from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia brought home by local residents Ezemiah Maughlin of Airville, Jacob Yost of Hopewell Township, and Dr. John Hyson of Hopewell Township and Red Lion. The exhibit also features the diary of Ezemiah Maughlin and her daily entries during her visit to the Centennial Exhibition.

Officially titled the “International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine,” the Centennial Exhibition was held from May to November 1876 and marks the first time the United States hosted a World’s Fair.

Thirty-seven nations participated in the event that drew close to ten million visitors from across the U.S. and around the globe, including residents of southern York County. Visitors arrived via modern conveyances like the railroad and steamboat, as well as traditional methods like carriages and horses.

While the event celebrated the nation’s 100th birthday, it also demonstrated that the U.S. had grown from a nation of rural inventors and tinkerers into a major manufacturing powerhouse. That manufacturing prowess was on display in the hundreds of buildings and booths erected by American businesses.

As York County resident Ezemiah Maughlin noted in her diary, the exhibition was “a Big Thing.”

The exhibit is open during the Society’s regular hours on Sunday’s from 2-4 pm.