Timeline
From a merchant's letter in 1904 to the centennial in 2015 · 81 dated moments.
Hale proposes a fair
Merchant Reuben Brooks Hale writes to the Merchants' Association proposing a world's exposition in San Francisco in 1915 to mark the opening of the Panama Canal.
Panama treaty ratified
The United States ratifies its treaty with Panama, securing a ten-mile-wide Canal Zone.
A 'Pacific Ocean Exposition'
Heads of six San Francisco commercial bodies resolve that the canal's completion be celebrated by an exposition in the city and form a Board of Governors.
Earthquake and fire
The earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, including Hale's research letters on the St. Louis fair.
First exposition company
The Pacific Ocean Exposition Company files articles to celebrate Balboa's discovery of the Pacific and the completion of the canal.
Bohemian Club dinner
Hale gathers the city's business leaders, including Charles C. Moore, and they resolve to push the exposition through.
First mass meeting
A mass meeting at the Merchants' Exchange ratifies the exposition plan and names a committee to raise the money.
PPIE Company incorporated
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company is incorporated; the same day a Santa Barbara convention endorses San Francisco over San Diego.
$4 million in two hours
At a public subscription meeting on the Merchants' Exchange floor, San Franciscans pledge $4,089,000 in about two hours.
Voters approve state and city money
California voters approve a $5 million state exposition tax and authorize San Francisco's $5 million bond issue.
House chooses San Francisco
The House votes 188 to 159 to take up San Francisco's resolution over New Orleans's; the resolution then passes 259 to 43.
Taft signs
President Taft signs the joint resolution recognizing San Francisco's exposition as the nation's celebration of the canal.
Bennett engaged
Edward H. Bennett is appointed to prepare the fair's block plan.
Taft breaks ground
President Taft turns the first earth with a silver spade at the Stadium in Golden Gate Park, before a crowd some estimated at 100,000.
Harbor View chosen
The Board votes to concentrate the whole fair at Harbor View and the Presidio, largely because it was cheaper.
Nations invited
President Taft proclaims an invitation to all nations to take part in the Exposition.
Architectural Commission meets
The Exposition's Architectural Commission holds its first meeting and soon divides the courts among its members.
Oregon picks the first site
A trainload of Oregonians led by Governor Oswald West receives the deed to the first state building site.
Dates set
The directors fix the Exposition's dates as February 20 to December 4, 1915.
Dredging begins
Moore starts the suction dredge John McMullin pumping sand and mud into Harbor View cove; the flow runs 146 days.
Sculpture and color chiefs
Karl Bitter is named Chief of Sculpture, A. Stirling Calder Acting Chief, and Jules Guérin Chief of Color.
Cove fill finished
The hydraulic fill of Harbor View cove is completed after 1,300,100 cubic yards.
Ryan made Chief of Illumination
General Electric's W. D'Arcy Ryan takes charge of lighting the fair.
Machinery Palace ground-breaking; stamps issued
Nearly 200,000 attend the ground-breaking for the Palace of Machinery; the same day the Post Office issues its four Panama-Pacific stamps.
Machinery contract let
The contract for the Palace of Machinery, one of the largest wooden structures ever built, goes to W. W. Anderson & Co.
First foreign pavilion begun
Work starts on the Honduras pavilion, the first foreign building on the grounds.
First Zone permit
Frederick Thompson receives the first building permit on the Zone, for the Noah's Ark of his Toyland Grown Up.
Admission charged to see the works
The gates close to free visitors; sightseers on the construction site now pay 25 cents.
Tetrazzini breaks ground
Soprano Luisa Tetrazzini breaks ground for Festival Hall.
Ball of All Nations
A costumed ball in the unfinished Palace of Machinery, with the colossal Nations of the East among the guests.
War
Germany declares war on Russia; Moore immediately announces the Exposition will open on time.
'It will not be postponed'
Moore's formal statement to the foreign and state commissioners confirms the opening date.
The canal opens
The steamer Ancon makes the formal first transit of the Panama Canal.
The Jason sails
The Navy collier Jason leaves New York; she will return with European exhibits and art that the war could not otherwise ship.
Auditorium opens
The Exposition Auditorium in the Civic Center, the fair's gift to the city, is dedicated with a masked ball.
Coins authorized
Congress authorizes the Panama-Pacific commemorative coins, to be struck at the San Francisco Mint.
Coast-to-coast telephone
Alexander Graham Bell in New York speaks to Thomas A. Watson in San Francisco over the new transcontinental line.
Opening day
San Franciscans march down Van Ness to the Scott Street gate; President Wilson opens the fair by wireless. 255,149 attend.
First foreign dedication
Japan dedicates its pavilion, the first of the foreign dedications.
Grand Prize race
Dario Resta wins the International Grand Prize on a course through the grounds, in the rain.
Lincoln Beachey killed
Beachey's monoplane breaks up over the bay and he is killed off the Fort Mason docks.
Art Smith's first flight
Aviator Art Smith flies over the fair at night; he will write in fire across its skies all year.
French Pavilion dedicated
France dedicates its pavilion, a copy of the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur built in nine weeks.
The Jason arrives
The collier anchors off the grounds with exhibits and art from Europe insured for $3,500,000.
Saint-Saëns arrives
Camille Saint-Saëns, 'in his eightieth year,' arrives with his official piece for the fair, Hail! California.
Zone Day
The concessionaires' carnival draws 104,486; Art Smith writes 'ZONE' in fire.
Independence Day
William Jennings Bryan speaks; 190,846 attend, the biggest crowd since opening day.
Liberty Bell Day
The Liberty Bell is paraded in and installed at the Pennsylvania Building; 113,672 attend.
Roosevelt Day
Theodore Roosevelt speaks on 'Peace and War' in the Court of the Universe.
Battleships through the canal
The Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin, the first battleships through the canal, arrive with about 650 midshipmen.
Taft Day
William Howard Taft returns and plants a redwood with his ground-breaking spade.
Suffrage envoys leave
Sara Bard Field sets out by automobile to carry the suffrage petition gathered at the fair to Washington.
Edison Day
Thomas Edison, visiting with Henry Ford, receives a medal in Festival Hall.
San Francisco Day
348,472 attend, nearly 70 percent of the city's population.
Liberty Bell departs
After a night lying in state under the Tower of Jewels, the Bell starts home.
Closing day
459,022 attend, the record. At night Moore says, 'Friends, the Exposition is finished. The lights are going out.'
Auditorium given to the city
Moore hands Mayor Rolph a golden key to the Exposition Auditorium.
Demolition
Wrecking begins in late March; around May 20 the Arch of the Rising Sun and its Nations of the East are dynamited.
Post-Exposition art show
The Palace of Fine Arts reopens with a Post-Exposition exhibition that runs to May 1.
Zone cleared
The last of the amusement street is gone and its 97 parcels are returned to their owners.
Organ rededicated
The Festival Hall organ is dedicated in its new home, the Exposition Auditorium.
Democratic National Convention
The first national convention of a major party west of the Rockies meets in the Exposition Auditorium.
Company dissolved
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company is formally dissolved in Superior Court.
Legion of Honor opens
The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, a permanent copy of the 1915 French Pavilion, opens on Armistice Day.
Ohio Building burned
The Ohio Building, floated to San Mateo County after the fair, is deliberately burned.
Johnson's gift
Walter S. Johnson pledges $2 million toward saving the Palace of Fine Arts.
Rotunda comes down
Demolition of the original Palace of Fine Arts rotunda begins, ahead of rebuilding in concrete.
Palace rebuilt
A ten-day festival opens the reconstructed Palace of Fine Arts.
Exploratorium opens
Frank Oppenheimer's Exploratorium opens in the Palace of Fine Arts exhibition hall.
Loma Prieta earthquake
The Marina, built on the fair's fill, suffers liquefaction and fires; 35 buildings are destroyed.
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
The Exposition's Civic Auditorium is renamed the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
National Register
The Palace of Fine Arts is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Exploratorium leaves
After more than 43 years, the Exploratorium closes at the Palace before moving to Pier 15.
City Rising
The California Historical Society opens its centennial exhibition on the fair.
Jewel City
The de Young Museum reassembles more than 200 works from the fair's art exhibition.