Illuminations: Revisiting the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition of 1901 - Costs of the Pan-American Exposition Compared to other Internationsl Exhibitions

Costs of the Pan-American Exposition
Compared to other International Exhibitions

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS¹
N.B. Exhibitors, Visitors, Cost and Receipts, All in Thousands

Date	Exhibition	Area in Acres		Exhibit.	Visitors		Cost to organisers	Receipts		Remarks
		*Covered*	*Tot.*		*Paying*	*Total*		*Gate, ...*	*Public grants*
1851	London	18	26	14	6,0391/5		£2923/4	£4381/5	£679/10 subscriptions	Also a guarantee fund.
1853	New York World’s Fair	5		4		1,150	$640 (£130)	$340 (£70)		Loss borne by private company.
1855	Paris	24	34	24		4,1621/5 *	fr. 11,500 (£450) †	fr. 3,200 (£125)		Loss borne by state *Also 1,000 visited separate fine art section †Excluding Palais de l’Industrie.
1862	London	23	24	282/3		6,211	£ 4593/4	£4482/3	£11 gift to clear deficit
1867	Paris	35	165*	421/5		11,000	fr. 23,400 (£ 950)	fr. 14,280 (£575)	fr. 12,000 (£500) state and city.	Also guarantee fund. Surplus distributed among guarantors, state and city. *Also 50 acres, agricultural annexe.
1873	Vienna	60	450	42	5,0581/3	7,2542/3	fr. 58,000 (£2,325)	fr. 11,000 (£450)		Deficit met by state.
1876	Philadelphia Centennial	71	250	30	8,0041/4	9,8572/3	over $8,000* (£1,700)	$4,3141/2 (£900)	$4,210 (£875)*	*Congress and State.
1878	Paris	70	192	52 4/5	13,000	l6,032 ¾	fr. 55,400 (£ 2,200)	fr. 27,700* (£ 1,100)	fr. 6,000 (£250) from city.	Balance found by state. *Including sale of Trocadero.
1889	Paris	72	237	55 1/2	27,722	32,3501/3	fr. 41,500 (£1,650)	fr. 24,500 (£ 975)	fr. 25,000 (£1,000) state and city.	Also a guarantee fund of fr. 23,124 (£925).
1893	Chicago (World's Columbian)	200	685*		21,4771/3	25,5292/5	£5,222	£3,029	£3,000 †	Expenditure by foreign governments estimated at £1,500. * Including 85 Midway Plaisance. † U.S. Congress and Chicago.
1900	Paris	111	267*	83	39,027	48,1301/3	fr. 116,500 (£4,650)	fr. 74,4561/4 (£3,000)	(£1,600) †	£2,400 was raised by the sale of bons. Expenditure of foreign nations estimated at £6,000 and of French exhibitors £3,000. * Also 276 acres annexe. †State and city.
1901	Glasgow		100		11,4961/4	11,5592/3	£3731/2	£4041/10		Guarantee fund over £500.
1901	Buffalo (Pan-American)		350	31/2		8,120	$9,4473/4 (£1,975)	$8,8693/4 (£1,850)
1904	St. Louis . (Louisiana Purchase)	300	1,272		12,8042/3	19,6949/10	$27,000 (£5,625)	$12,1851/2 (£2,550)	$9,750* (£2,000)	Deficit fell on subscribing citizens of St. Louis. *U.S. Congress and city.
1908	London (Franco-British)	40	140	131/2		8,3962/3	£7831/2	£7983/4
1915	San Francisco (Panama-Pacific)		635	30	13,1271/2	18,750
1924	London (British Empire)		216		15,0801/2	17,4031/4				Deficit nearly £2,000.
1925	ditto.				7,5893/4	9,6991/4
1931	Paris (Colonial)		500	12	32,000	33,500	fr. 225,000 (£2,250)	fr. 159,000 (£1,590)	fr. 95,000* (£950)	*State fr. 80,000, Paris fr. 15,000
1933	Chicago (Century of Progress)		424		22,5654/5		38,000* (£7,500)	$37,270		*Buildings only.
1934	ditto.				16,306		6,000* (£1,200)	$26,000		*Buildings only.
1935	Brussels	175	375*	9	20,000					*Including 42 acres parkland.
1937	Paris (Arts et Techniques)	250		11	31,000	34,000	£17,000	£4,000
1939	New York World's Fair		1,216		26,000		£30,000*			Deficit of £5,000. * Including expenditure of foreign governments

No table of statistics on this subject can be complete or 100 per cent accurate. Many of the figures were never published, and those which were published show remarkable discrepancies even in contemporary quotations. The figures given above, based on a good deal of research, may be treated as reasonably accurate, at least for comparative purposes.

Note.
1. Source: Kenneth W. Luckhurst. The Story of Exhibitions. London: The Studio Publications, 1951. Appendix II - "Statistics of Some Great Expositions," pp. 220-221.

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Last updated: 11 June 2004
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