Remains of the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition

These steps are one of the few remaining artifacts from the exposition.

The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. It is most remembered for the Atlanta Compromise speech given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, 1895.

The site has gone through several transformations during its existence. Although the land was used as farmland in the early and mid-1800s, the area now known as the location for the Playscape was one of the hills leveled for the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895. The steps leading to the current playground were originally constructed to lead to the Agriculture building. After the Exposition ended and the building was removed from the site, the leveled area was redesigned as a playground.