JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Great American State Fair happening here in Washington, D.C., is facing extreme weather, sparse crowds and accusations of partisanship. As NPR's Rachel Treisman reports, those sound a lot like the challenges that plagued America's birthday celebration 100 years ago at the 1926 world's fair.
RACHEL TREISMAN, BYLINE: Philadelphia hosted a hugely successful world's fair to mark the U.S. centennial in 1876. It showcased American inventions - like the telephone, typewriter and ketchup - and cemented its power on the world stage. So it made sense the city would host another one 50 years later for the sesquicentennial in 1926, only this time...
THOMAS KEELS: It's as though there really was a curse going on.
TREISMAN: That's Philadelphia-based historian Thomas Keels. He says William Vare, a corrupt U.S. congressman from Philadelphia, thought a successful fair would boost his Senate campaign. So Vare had the mayor move it to a swampy stretch of South Philadelphia known as The Neck.
KEELS: It is the most remote, poverty-stricken, difficult-to-get-to area in Philadelphia.
TREISMAN: It doesn't sound like a recipe for success.
KEELS: But it's in his congressional district, and he owns a lot of land there, which he will happily lease or sell to the sesquicentennial.
TREISMAN: The city spent over $10 million just trucking in dirt to fill the land. By January 1926, the fair was well behind schedule and way over budget. When the six-month fair opened in May, its main symbol, a lightbulb-studded replica of the Liberty Bell, was still covered in scaffolding, only two exhibits were ready, and it rained a lot.
KEELS: So they're slogging through mud because none of the sidewalks have been put in.
TREISMAN: School kids collapsed in extreme heat during a flag day ceremony in June. Pavilions leaked and exhibits broke after major thunderstorms on July 4. By August, Variety declared the fair, quote, "America's greatest flop." It drew less than 5 million visitors, half the size of the 1876 crowd.
KEELS: You had little inventions - like the car, the radio, the airplane - that should have made it easier, but nobody wanted to go.
TREISMAN: The ordeal left Philadelphia basically bankrupt on the eve of the Great Depression. The city was still willing to host another fair in 1976, but that fell through in favor of more regional celebrations.
KEELS: In 1976, the bicentennial - I think there was an effort to pay attention to the founding in a serious way.
TREISMAN: Historian Fergus Bordewich says the U.S. doesn't host world fairs anymore.
KEELS: The great temple to consumerism today is on Amazon. You don't have to go to a world's fair to see.
TREISMAN: This year's celebrations include a state fair and other events in D.C. put together by a controversial group called Freedom 250. President Trump created it last year, seemingly bypassing a bipartisan group that already existed. Freedom 250 says it's nonpartisan, but it is accused of having a political agenda. Keels sees similarities between 2026 and 1926.
KEELS: This really points to what happens when what is meant to be a national civic celebration gets kidnapped by a small cadre of individuals who use it purely for their own gain.
TREISMAN: But there is a patriotic event bringing people together in Philadelphia and many other U.S. cities - the ongoing World Cup. Keels says that may be the modern day world's fair. Rachel Treisman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR鈥檚 programming is the audio record.
