envisioned a larger exhibition that would include the industrial achievements of many nations, matching their products against those of Britain, the largest industrial power in the world at the time. They had little doubt the comparisons would reflect favorably on their own nation, a sentiment that would continue to factor into world's fairs and expositions to follow. During its five-month run, the Crystal Palace Exhibition attracted six million visitors. It was deconstructed and rebuilt in the London suburb of Sydenham, where it remained until it burned down in November of 1936.

Following upon the success of the Crystal Palace, some sixty world's fairs were held before 1915, nearly twenty of these in the United States. The country had hoped to build upon the success it had experienced in London where it had contributed extensive displays to the Crystal Palace Exhibition, impressing the British with American industrial and manufacturing prowess. In July of 1853, New York debuted its own version of the Crystal Palace Exhibition. Unfortunately, it lacked the government funding that the London Exhibition received and when it closed in November of 1854, its losses were more that $340,000. More than twenty years would pass before there would be another world's fair in America, but the fairs continued to flourish outside the United States.