Editing Centennial Exposition of 1876 (section)

== Attendance and Impact ==

The Centennial Exposition attracted 9,910,966 paid admissions over its six-month run, plus millions more who visited the grounds without paying admission. On the busiest day, September 28 (Pennsylvania Day), over 274,000 visitors crowded the fairgrounds. People traveled from across the country by railroad—the transcontinental railroad had been completed just seven years earlier—and the fair demonstrated the new mobility that railroads made possible. Hotels, restaurants, and transportation services struggled to accommodate the crowds, and stories of price gouging and poor accommodations circulated alongside more positive accounts of the fair's wonders.<ref name="post"/>

The exposition's impact extended beyond its six-month run. It demonstrated American industrial capability to foreign observers and to Americans themselves, building confidence in the nation's future as an industrial power. It established the world's fair as an American institution—Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and other cities would host subsequent expositions. The fair brought innovations like the telephone to public attention, accelerating their adoption. The architectural and design standards established at the fair influenced public and commercial buildings for years afterward. The centennial marked the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of the Gilded Age, as the nation turned from the divisions of war to the opportunities of industrial capitalism.<ref name="rydell"/>