Southern Exposition

The Southern Exposition was a five-year series of world's fairs held in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1883 to 1887 in what became Louisville's Old Louisville neighborhood. The exposition, held for 100 days each year on immediately south of Central Park in what became the St. James–Belgravia Historic District, was essentially an industrial and mercantile show. At the time, the exposition was larger than any previous American exhibition with the exception of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. U.S. President Chester A. Arthur opened the first annual exposition on August 1, 1883.

Highlights

One highlight of the show was the largest installation yet, of incandescent [light bulb]s, recently invented by Thomas Edison, to bring light to the exposition in the nighttime. The contract with the Louisville Board of Trade was for 5,000 incandescent lamps, 4,600 lamps for the exhibition hall and 400 for an art gallery. More than all the lamps installed in New York City at the time were used.
George H. Yater writes in his book Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio:
[Image:Birdseye-southernexpo.jpg|thumb|"Birds-eye view of Louisville from the river front and Southern Exposition, 1883" by William F. Clarke]