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The Importance Of The Tennessee Centennial Exposition In Nashville

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Just like a Phoenix, Nashville, Tennessee was rising up from the ashes of the war between the states and the Reconstruction Period. Prosperity was in the air and they were leading the New South out and into the next century. The Tennessee Centennial Exposition, held in Nashville, was opened on 1 May 1897, which was eleven months after the original date it was supposed to celebrate. What they were celebrating was Tennessee’s one-hundredth anniversary of statehood. The Tennessee Centennial Exposition showed exhibits on their industry, agriculture, commerce, and transportation of the state and displayed their educational and cultural achievement. They, the Americans, came together despite their differences and made this the largest southern exposition. The Tennessee Centennial Exposition was commemorating the history of the state. The exposition was developing the state’s natural resources, encouraging foreign investments, and increasing the state’s population. It promoted their devotion to the New South belief of industrial progress, racial harmony, and national reconciliation. Evidence of the assurance of industrial progress in the New South: automatic brick makers, telephones, gasoline engines, electric dynamos, and electric lights strung on every building. Race relations in Nashville initially remained fluid …show more content…

This exposition was also honoring their technological progress brought by the machine age. Primary exhibits were dedicated to commerce, agriculture, machinery, and transportation. The railroad had a big role in the exposition. During the Confederate Veterans Reunion, the average was 55 to 60 trains per day bringing in guest from out of town for the event. The railroad was also increasing the population, for example, a man from Chattanooga, Tennessee ran away from home with only enough money for the train fare to get to Nashville but not enough to get back

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