On Jan. 16, 1915, as Balboa Park’s Panama–California Exposition was just getting underway, San Diego staged one of its most memorable celebrations of the fair’s first month: a combined Stockholders’ Day and San Francisco Day. The Panama–California Exposition — a world’s fair marking the opening of the Panama Canal and promoting San Diego as the first United States port of call, as city leaders envisioned it, for ships traveling north through the new waterway — had opened just over two weeks earlier on Jan. 1, 1915.
View of the explanada leading to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The Panama California Exposition was held in Balboa Park in San Diego between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and was meant to tout San Diego as the first U.S. Port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal. (Photo courtesy of the city of San Diego Digital Archives)On that mid-January Saturday, merchants released employees and schools dismissed pupils so the city could turn out for the occasion. About 125 delegates from San Francisco’s Panama–Pacific International Exposition were also on hand, symbolizing regional cooperation between Northern and Southern California as both cities showcased themselves to the nation. Total attendance that day at the Panama–California Exposition reached 14,793 people, the highest single-day turnout in the fair’s early weeks and one of the most popular celebrations in its first year.
Stockholders’ Day honored the investors, civic leaders, and promoters whose vision and financial support helped make the exposition a reality. San Francisco Day, by contrast, highlighted camaraderie between the two great California fairs — San Diego’s on the southern coast and San Francisco’s larger Panama–Pacific International Exposition, which was also commemorating the Panama Canal in 1915.
Roosevelt on a digging machine during the construction of the Panama Canal, circa 1908. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)The Panama–California Exposition continued through Jan. 1, 1917, transforming what is now Balboa Park with elaborate Beaux-Arts and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, gardens, exhibits, and cultural events. It played a major role in elevating San Diego’s national profile and shaping the park that residents and visitors still enjoy today.
Aerial view of the exposition area from the California Tower. The Panama California Exposition was held in Balboa Park in San Diego between Jan. 1, 1915, and Jan. 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first U.S. port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal. (Photo courtesy of the city of San Diego Digital Archives)For more fun, San Diego Flashbacks in history, click here.
Sources
San Diego History Center archives, “Panama–California Exposition: San Diego Has Its Year of Glory — Jan. 16 Stockholders’ and San Francisco Day attendance 14,793” (sandiegohistory.org)Panama–California Exposition overview and dates (January 1, 1915 – January 1, 1917), Panama–Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco), concurrent with the 1World’s Fair, celebrating the Panama Canal
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