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INTRODUCTION
What was the PPIE?
What are poster stamps?
PPIE Poster stamps for:
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Official publicity
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General souvenirs
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Exhibitor promotion
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Local promotion
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Foreign
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Awards
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Railroads
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Events
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Other
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WHAT WAS THE PPIE?
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Postcard promoting the PPIE
In 1900, San Francisco had a population of nearly 350,000, was the largest city
west of the Mississippi, and the 9th largest city in the United States.
It was young, brash, and eager, but isolated from the rest of the country by the
half-continent between. Travel to the West Coast from the East Coast
was a journey of at least a week by land, and two months by sea. So the scheduled
completion of the Panama Canal in 1914 promised to open new
commerce and connections for the city by the Golden Gate. Accordingly, in 1904,
civic leaders in San Francisco proposed that the city
should celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal with an International Exposition,
a year-lomg celebration that would announce San Francisco's
new status. Preparations were begun.
Then on April 18, 1906, the great San Francisco Earthquake struck, followed by an
even more devastating fire, and the city lay in ruins. Within weeks
after the quake, while daily life was still an ordeal, the men who had proposed the
1915 exposition revived their efforts, and mounted a campaign
to have the fair in spite of all obstacles, and prove to the world that San
Francisco had recovered, rebuilt, and was stronger than ever.
And they succeeded. The city rebuilt, and the Panama-Pacific International
Exposition was remembered by all who attended as the greatest US
exposition of the era.
Read more about the PPIE
HERE.
San Francisco had to fight for the right to host the Expo -
New Orleans was the primary competitor - see a great pamphlet promoting SF
HERE.
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