 This illustration is the only known photo from the 57 fairs fair These are saddles and horse tack from the local manufacturer main and Winchester Other items exhibited included four different kinds of billiard tables Mining machinery a full-sized windmill was outside a complete set of armor made of tin quilts hats shoes lamps stoves guns musical instruments Locally made beer and wine and a lot of embroidery samples The fair would end with a marvelous ball with nearly a thousand guests The dancing lasted until daybreak and The donation of $626 was made to each the Catholic and Protestant orphan asylums Which this was half the income from Saturday September 19th The first fair was such a remarkable success that it set the pattern for virtually all the other fairs Opening ceremonies marked with a speech from the Institute President a More rousing speech made by a local personality about the state of California's industry nightly musical concerts an elaborate award ceremony cash prizes for research conducted on various areas of technical innovation an All-night dance party and then a charitable donation The Institute would hold another fair in 58 and in 60 both on the same plot of land But with different temporary buildings The 1860 fair was in a building that cost $10,000 which was a financial stretch for the Institute and The fair could not recoup its costs Which almost spelled the end for the Institute But we rallied and were able to host another one in 1864 in this building on Union Square on The southwest corner of Geary and Stockton Right where the winter ice rink would be located today This building was 55,000 square feet Plenty of room for an ice skating pond a hedge labyrinth a 40-foot tower of flowers and The West's greatest display of quartz crushers grindstones Loaves of sugar mounds of apples piles of cow hides and the first quenching fruit of eight breweries And it looked like this inside Here is the art department Carlton Watkins took many photos for us and Here's the fruit Note the abundance of bunting This fair was one of the largest civic gatherings since the outbreak of the Civil War So the bunting was abundant To stimulate everyone's patriotic feelings Ghirardelli would display every year his chocolate spices teas and liqueurs The 64 fair was special In a different way One paid a special a separate admission charge to see a 4,000 pound cheese Which was hiding inside this tower of flowers and potted plants The cheese and I think it was a cheddar was made by the steel brothers of pescadero With the proceeds going to the sanitary Commission Which was the progenitor of the Red Cross and they provided aid to the wounded soldiers of the Civil War After the fair was over the cheese was cut up and sold and a piece of it purportedly went to president Lincoln The 1864 fair was undoubtedly made successful by the efforts of a young wire rope manufacturer named Andrew Smith Hallity You know him as the father of the San Francisco cable car, but in 64 He was the vice president of the mechanics Institute Hallity came from a family of mechanical geniuses His father was the first person in the English-speaking world to patent the concept of twisted wire rope Hallity became involved with the mechanics Institute Probably about 1857 when he opened a factory making wire rope in North Beach Hallity's family in London had been heavily involved with the local mechanics institutes Thus Hallity knew the role a mechanics Institute should play in its community This experience enabled him to help our Institute overcome its financial difficulties and Realize its potential as a civic leader Hallity also had attended the great exhibition held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1851 This was considered the first World Fair and he would later attend other major World expositions Hallity would be directly involved with our next 13 fairs Most of them as president of the Institute So in his expert hands we learned how to put on a damn good show in 67 Hallity attended the Paris International Exposition He saw the Japanese and Chinese exhibits and returned to California Charged with the concept of California hosting a World Fair and Utilizing its premier location as Gateway to the Pacific Hallity strongly believed that California's destiny was to be a preeminent Economic power of the Pacific and who better to show leadership in international relations than the mechanics Institute as the Transcontinental Railroad had just been finished and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had been making a regular service to China and Japan for the last 18 months The time seemed ripe Hallity aimed to make the 69 fair International by inviting China Japan British Columbia the Hawaiian Islands Mexico Chile Peru and the neighboring states to participate While he experienced warm feelings from these countries only a few of them sent articles to exhibit