Centennial Building Reaches Century Mark

On opening day of the 1905 State Fair of Texas, a crowd gathered for the dedication of a new classically-arched exhibition hall. One of the speakers described the massive structure as "a building intended to last a century."

He was right.

The aptly named Centennial Building is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. Its cavernous interior will be filled with shiny new vehicles from such major automakers as Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Lexus, Lincoln-Mercury, Chrysler and Infiniti. It's a "must see" destination for most fairgoers, and they can comparison shop under bright lights in air-conditioned comfort. The years have been good to the venerable exhibit hall.

Built of cement stone with three porticos sheltering the entrances that faced the main drive, the structure contained more than 75,000 square feet of floor space and cost $90,000 to construct in 1905. The doorway nearest the front gate led to a 3,500-seat auditorium. An interior brick wall separated this performance hall from the larger exhibit area under the second and third bays.

In preparation for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, the exhibition hall was modernized and enlarged by constructing an art deco shell around the original footprint. The structure served as the exposition's Transportation Building and featured exhibits by International Harvester, the Texas and Pacific Railway, Bethlehem Steel Company and others. An adjacent hall featured Chrysler automobiles. Artists created frescoes and murals on the eastern exterior walls to represent various modes of transportation.

After the Centennial and Pan-American expositions concluded, the main structure was restored to its original use as the General Exhibits Building, and the annex was remodeled as a broadcast studio for city-owned radio station WRR.

In the late 1950s, the exhibit focus of the building changed with the organization of the Texas International Trade Fair, a project supporting Dallas' emergence as a market center for foreign products. Early participants included Great Britain, Egypt, Guatemala, India and Spain. The building was given a new name: World Exhibits Center, and people flocked to a shoppers' paradise called the International Bazaar.

Over the next 15 years, visitors enjoyed cultural programming and commercial displays from around the globe, but eventually world economic conditions decimated the ranks of government-sponsored exhibits. Renamed the Centennial Building in 1977, by then a 90,000 square-foot exhibit hall, spotlighted merchandise ranging from trampolines to donut-making machines to log cabin homes.

Since that time, the Centennial Building has hosted a such major attractions as The Incredible Acrobats of China in 1986, the 1987 Sea World Pavilion, Catherine the Great in 1992, the White House in Miniature in 2001 and Future Visions from 1997-2003, but it is most readily identified as a gigantic showroom for the newest imports and luxury vehicles.

Contact: Public Relations, 214-421-8715 or pr@bigtex.com.