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Singer Featherweight Texas Centennial - 1936
The Texas Centennial 1836 - 1936 badged Featherweight is probably the rarest of the rare... the most scarce Featherweight to find because of the short time period for which they were available - just over 5 months. Moreover, this particular badge is the only "Texas" Featherweight badge officially recognized and documented by Featherweight historians to date.
*Texas Centennial Featherweight photographed above is now owned by a very lovely and highly acclaimed quilter, but most of all, the new owner is a Texan through and through!
Celebrating 100 years of Independence from Mexico, Texas commemorated the occasion by hosting the world's fair in Dallas from June 6th to November 29th, 1936.
photo courtesy of modernarthistorian.com
Western and American culture were distinguished attractions and the event brought more than 6 million people worldwide, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt and even the Three Stooges!
photo courtesy of texascccparks.org
photo courtesy of C.R. Smith Museum
The Texas Centennial celebration is credited with sustaining Dallas during the Great Depression with over 10,000 jobs and providing over $50,000,000 to the local economy. The exposition did have a wrinkle in their promotional materials because the state had never before been photographed for advertising purposes. However, a special photographer was hired to travel the state and photographically tell the story of Texas.
photo by Polly Smith
photo by Polly Smith
Isn't the badge just beautiful!?
As with prior world's fair expositions, Singer made a lasting presence with their exhibit and presented one of their most distinguished & new model machines at the Texas Centennial World's Fair. Only three years new at the time, Singer Featherweight 221 machines sold at the fair featured a lovely Texas Centennial badge or emblem. The 1936 Featherweight already had some unique characteristics with their bobbin winder tension bracket and slotted foot controller, but machines bearing this badge command one of the highest collectible price tags today. As of 3/25/2020, 16 of these machines have been reported to exist, so if you have a Singer Featherweight 221 with this badge, not only are you considerably blessed but surely the envy of all Texas quilters! We would like to have as complete a record as possible of this machine, so please, please, please contact us with a photo of the machine and serial number so that we can document and add your machine to the very special list of Texas Centennial Featherweights!
*A special thanks to Tre Perry and J.C. Elliott for compiling this list!
