May 12, 2026 Blog by Earl Shreckengast - Koester at Centennial Exposition
COUNTDOWN TO 150---Charles Koester at Centennial Exposition
Marysville, Marshall County, and Kansas were represented at our country’s 100th anniversary celebration by Marysville’s own Charles F. Koester. An immigrant from Germany who arrived in Marysville in 1860, Koester was one of the six members of the Centennial Board of Managers tasked by the Governor of Kansas to showcase to the world the products and culture of the 15-year-old state of Kansas.
Our centennial was marked by a world’s fair held in Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park only five miles from where our Founding Fathers signed the fateful document, the Declaration of Independence. Over 10,000,000 people would attend the six-month-long exposition which was officially known as the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of Soil and Mine.
Charles Koester’s responsibilities as a manager included the practical work of assembling exhibits, finances, and logistics. He traveled to Philadelphia a week early to get things ready at the Kansas and Colorado Building for the opening of the Centennial Exposition on May 10, 1876.
He attended the opening ceremony which had such dignitaries as U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, and representatives from 37 countries. The opening ceremony featured a commissioned musical composition by famed composer Richard Wagner. The crowd was estimated at 180,000.
Koester reported back to Marysville on the opening ceremony in an article which was published in the Marshall County News of May 20, 1876. “The opening day was a grand affair spiced in the later part of the afternoon with a lasting and soaking rain. Oh, what people and what mud!
“Fortunately for me, I squeezed in the dense crowd near the stand, upon which the inauguration and presentation speeches were made, seeing President Grant, Dom Pedro, and other ‘great men’ so unusual to the sight of us western folks.”
He added more color in his diary: “. . . our places were near the platform where all the dignitaries had places. General President Grant read the opening speech from manuscript. General Hawley, then senator, prompted him when he could not make out a word. Dom Pedro and the Queen (Brazil) were on the platform, fine looking people with the emperor’s silk hat off; he had pure white hair. The Queen, such a fine white parasol, will never forget the sights.”
The key moment of the day was when President Grant and Emperor Dom Pedro II jointly turned the Corliss Steam Engine’s starting mechanism. This act symbolically “powered on” Machinery Hall and the entire Exposition. The crowd erupted in cheers and as the great engine began to move, the orchestra launched into “Hail Columbia.” Flags were raised, artillery salutes were fired, and the crowd celebrated the official opening. After President Grant proclaimed the Exposition officially open, bells rang across the grounds, and visitors began dispersing into the various exhibition buildings.
The photo above is of the crowd gathered in front of Memorial Hall for the opening ceremony of the Centennial Exposition on May 10, 1876.
