Tickets from the Panama Pacific International Exposition
Sheet music from the Panama Pacific International Exposition
On February 15, 1911, President William Howard Taft signs a resolution
designating San Francisco as the official World’s Fair City to celebrate
the future opening of the Panama Canal. Eight months later, on October
14th, Taft comes to San Francisco to break the ceremonial
ground. The next day he lunches at the Cliff House, and toasts San
Francisco as “the City that knows how.”
San Francisco invites the world to the Panama-Pacific International
Exposition for opening ceremonies on February 20, 1915. The City is
honoring the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal, the culmination of a heroic,
decade-long construction miracle by United States Army engineers. America
succeeds where others have failed—against all odds and obstacles from
mountains to malaria—in cutting a passage through the land bridge at
Panama and uniting the two great oceans with heavy-lifting locks to
accommodate the world’s ships.
No less is the Fair an occasion for San Francisco to celebrate her own
rise from the ashes of the earthquake and fire of 1906.
View of Exposition Grounds
“You know I have never cared for cities, but San Francisco is
the most beautiful thing….The White Tower of Jewels is in sight from
there. The jewels strung about it glitter and shine in beautiful
colors.”
--LAURA INGALLS WILDER, VISITOR TO THE FAIR
Zone crowd in the rain
The 65-acre amusement area at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
is not called the “Midway,” but in keeping with the Panama Canal celebration,
the “Zone.” From Fillmore Street to Van Ness Avenue, the Zone is filled with
attractions, rides and affordable food. The Ghirardelli Chocolate parlor and
the Welch’s Grape Juice stand, in their own attractive buildings, are very
popular.The most popular food of all is the “Frankfurter sausage”—not the hot
dog.
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