Commems Collection Classic: 1915 Panama-Pacific International Expo - A Bit About The Exposition

I'm not a dedicated collector of Panama-Pacific International Exposition material, but I have picked up a few items of ephemera (e.g., souvenir booklets, postcards) and exonumia (e.g., buttons, badges, medals) over the years to supplement my "Pan-Pac" coins. Here are a few used to illustrate a brief story about the Exposition itself...

Multiple groups in multiple cities looked to host a Fair/Exposition to celebrate the completion and opening of the Panama Canal; the Canal officially opened on August 15, 1914. San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA and New Orleans, LA were the cities that made the biggest push to serve as host for an Exposition.

New Orleans envisioned itself as the primary departure port for ships leaving the US to transit the Canal (East to West), as well as the initial US arrival port for ships traveling through the Canal (West to East). (Technically, the Panama Canal runs North-South, from the Caribbean Sea in the north to the Pacific Ocean in the south. I used the East-West terminology here as it matches common "beliefs" about the Canal's orientation.) New Orleans developed a promotional campaign to compete for the Exposition centered around the slogan "The Logical Point."

New Orleans - The Logical Point Pinback Button


San Diego developed a "First Port" campaign to make its case for the Exposition. San Francisco attempted to get San Diego to drop its efforts, owing to the facts that San Francisco was the larger city and had stronger financial resources to support a large Fair/Exposition. When San Diego refused to back down, San Francisco's political machine activated and lobbied members of the US Congress to make the city's case.

Ultimately, the US Congress passed a bill that awarded the Exposition to San Francisco on January 31, 1911; US President Howard Taft signed the bill into Public Law on February 15, 1911. The groundbreaking for the Exposition grounds took place on October 14, 1911 with President Taft turning the first shovel of dirt in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000.

After losing out to San Francisco, San Diego decided to host a competing Exposition - the California-Pacific Exposition. It will be the subject of an upcoming post.

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was constructed on ~635 acres of mostly reclaimed waterfront land in north San Francisco. It cost ~$50 million and included:

- 11 Exhibition Palaces
- 21 Foreign Pavilions
- 48 State Buildings
- a 65-acre amusement zone

The architectural style of the Exposition earned it the nickname "City of Domes." (Multiple domes are seen in the following image.)

Aerial View of Panama-Pacific International Exposition Grounds

(Image Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Public Domain.)

The Exposition opened to the public on February 20, 1915. The Exposition Company recognized those who participated in Opening Day via a special badge for the day.



The Exposition ran through December 4, 1915. As a bookend to the "Opening Day" badge, the Exposition Company issued a "Closing Day" badge to those who worked the final day.



The Exposition was considered a success. Between opening and closing, ~19 million guests attended the Exposition. Overall, a net profit of ~$1 million was realized by the Exposition's organizers.


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more on the Pan-Pac Expo coins, see: Commems Collection.