| 1933–1934Chicago | |
|---|---|
 A 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair poster. It was later decided to continue the fair into 1934. This poster features the fair's Federal Building and Hall of States. | |
| Overview | |
| BIE-class | Universal exposition |
| Category | Historical Expo |
| Name | A Century of Progress International Exposition |
| Motto | Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms |
| Area | 172 hectares (430 acres) |
| Visitors | 48,469,227 |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| City | Chicago |
| Venue | Lakefront, Northerly Island |
| Coordinates | 41°51′38″N87°36′41″W / 41.86056°N 87.61139°W /41.86056; -87.61139 |
| Timeline | |
| Bidding | 1923 |
| Opening | May 27, 1933 (1933-05-27) |
| Closure | October 31, 1934 (1934-10-31) |
| Universal expositions | |
| Previous | Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 inSevilla and1929 Barcelona International Exposition inBarcelona |
| Next | Brussels International Exposition (1935) inBrussels |
A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as theChicago World's Fair, was aworld's fair held in the city ofChicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under theBureau International des Expositions (BIE), celebrated the city's centennial. Designed largely inArt Deco style, the theme of the fair wastechnological innovation, and its motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms", trumpeting the message that science and American life were wedded.[1] Its architectural symbol was theSky Ride, atransporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to the other.
One description of the fair noted that the world, "then still mired in the malaise of theGreat Depression, could glimpse a happier not-too-distant future, all driven by innovation in science and technology". Fair visitors saw the latest wonders in rail travel, automobiles, architecture and even cigarette-smoking robots.[2] The exposition "emphasized technology and progress, a utopia, or perfect world, founded on democracy and manufacturing."[3]
A Century of Progress was organized as an Illinois nonprofit corporation in January 1928 for the purpose of planning and hosting a World's Fair in Chicago in 1934. City officials designated three and a half miles of newly reclaimed land along the shore of Lake Michigan between 12th and 39th streets on theNear South Side for the fairgrounds.[4] Held on a 427 acres (1.73 km2) portion ofBurnham Park, the $37,500,000 (equal to $910,893,316 today) exposition was formally opened on May 27, 1933, by U.S. Postmaster GeneralJames Farley at a four-hour ceremony atSoldier Field.[5][6] The fair's opening night began with a nod to the heavens. Lights were automatically activated when the rays of the starArcturus were detected. The star was chosen as its light had started its journey at about the time of the previous Chicago world's fair—theWorld's Columbian Exposition—in 1893.[7] The rays were focused onphotoelectric cells in a series of astronomical observatories and then transformed into electrical energy which was transmitted to Chicago.[8]
The fair buildings were multi-colored, to create a "Rainbow City" as compared to the "White City" of Chicago's earlierWorld's Columbian Exposition. The buildings generally followedModerne architecture in contrast to the neoclassical themes used at the 1893 fair. One famous feature of the fair were the performances of fan dancerSally Rand.Hal Pearl then known as "Chicago's Youngest Organist" and later "The King of the Organ" was the official organist of the fair. Mary Ann McArdle and her sister Isabel (from the UK) performed Irish Dancing. Other popular exhibits were the various auto manufacturers, the Midway (filled with nightclubs such as the Old Morocco, where future starsJudy Garland, the Cook Family Singers, andthe Andrews Sisters performed), and a recreation of important scenes from Chicago's history. The fair also contained exhibits that may seem shocking to modern audiences, including offensive portrayals ofAfrican Americans, a "Midget City" complete with "sixtyLilliputians",[9] and an exhibition ofincubators containing real babies.[10]
The fair included an exhibit on the history of Chicago. In the planning stages, several African American groups from the city's newly growing population campaigned forJean Baptiste Point du Sable to be honored at the fair.[11] At the time, few Chicagoans had even heard of Point du Sable, and the fair's organizers presented the 1803 construction ofFort Dearborn as the city's historical beginning. The campaign was successful, and a replica of Point du Sable's cabin was presented as part of the "background of the history of Chicago".[11] Also on display was the "Lincoln Group" of reconstructions of buildings associated with the biography of Abraham Lincoln, including his birth cabin, theLincoln-Berry General Store, the Chicago Wigwam (in reduced scale), and the Rutledge Tavern which served as a restaurant.
Admiral Byrd's polar expedition ship theCity of New York was visited by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt when he came to the fair on October 2, 1933. TheCity was on show for the full length of the exhibition.[12]
One of the highlights of the 1933 World's Fair was the arrival of the German airshipGraf Zeppelin on October 26, 1933. After circling Lake Michigan near the exposition for two hours, CommanderHugo Eckener landed the 776-foot airship at the nearbyCurtiss-Wright Airport inGlenview. It remained on the ground for twenty-five minutes (from 1 to 1:25 pm)[13] then took off ahead of an approaching weather front, bound forAkron, Ohio.
The "dream cars" which American automobile manufacturers exhibited at the fair includedRollston bodywork on aDuesenberg chassis, and was called theTwenty Grand ultra-luxury sedan;Cadillac's introduction of itsV-16 limousine;Nash's exhibit had a variation on the vertical (i.e.,paternoster lift) parking garage—all the cars were new Nashes;Lincoln presented its rear-engined "concept car" precursor to theLincoln-Zephyr, which went on the market in 1936 with a front engine;Pierce-Arrow presented its modernisticPierce Silver Arrow for which it used the byline "Suddenly it's 1940!" But it wasPackard which won the best of show with the reintroduction of thePackard Twelve.
An enduring exhibit was the1933 Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition that demonstrated modern home convenience and creative practical new building materials and techniques with twelve model homes sponsored by several corporations affiliated with home decor and construction.
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Marine artistHilda Goldblatt Gorenstein painted twelve murals for the Navy's exhibit in the Federal Building for the fair. The frieze was composed of twelve murals depicting the influence of sea power on America, beginning with the settlement ofJamestown, Virginia, in 1607 when sea power first reached America and carrying through World War I.[14] Another set of murals, painted for the Ohio State Exhibit byWilliam Mark Young, was relocated afterwards to theOhio Statehouse.[15][16] Young also painted scenes of the exhibition buildings.
ThefirstMajor League Baseball All-Star Game was held atComiskey Park (home of theChicago White Sox) in conjunction with the fair.
In May 1934, theUnion Pacific Railroad exhibited its first streamlined train, theM-10000, and theChicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad its famousZephyr which, on May 26, made a record-breaking dawn-to-dusk run from Denver, Colorado, to Chicago in 13 hours and 5 minutes, called the "Dawn-to-Dusk Dash". To cap its record-breaking speed run, theZephyr arrived dramatically on-stage at the fair's "Wings of a Century" transportation pageant.[17] The two trains launched an era of industrial streamlining.[18] Both trains later went into successful revenue service, the Union Pacific's as theCity of Salina, and the BurlingtonZephyr as the firstPioneer Zephyr.[19] TheZephyr is now on exhibit atChicago's Museum of Science and Industry.[20]
Frank Buck furnished a wild animal exhibit, Frank Buck's Jungle Camp. Over two million people visited Buck's reproduction of the camp he and his native assistants lived in while collecting animals in Asia. After the fair closed, Buck moved the camp to a compound he had created atAmityville, New York.[21]
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Planning for the design of the Exposition began over five years prior to Opening Day.[22] According to an official resolution, decisions regarding the site layout and the architectural style of the exposition were relegated to an architectural commission, which was led byPaul Cret andRaymond Hood.[23] Local architects on the committee includedEdward Bennett,John Holabird, and Hubert Burnham.Frank Lloyd Wright was specifically left off the commission due to his inability to work well with others, but did go on to produce three conceptual schemes for the fair.[24][25] Members of this committee ended up designing most of the large, thematic exhibition pavilions.[26]
From the beginning, the commission members shared a belief that the buildings should not reinterpret past architectural forms – as had been done at earlier fairs, such as Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition—but should instead reflect new, modern ideas, as well as suggest future architectural developments.[27] Because the fairgrounds was on new man-made land that was owned by the state and not the city, the land was initially free from Chicago's strict building codes, which allowed the architects to explore new materials and building techniques.[28] This allowed the design and construction of a wide array of experimental buildings, that eventually included large general exhibition halls, such as the Hall of Science (Paul Cret) and the Federal Building (Bennet, Burnham, and Holabird); corporate pavilions, including the General Motors Building (Albert Kahn) and the Sears Pavilion (Nimmons, Carr, and Wright); futuristic model houses, most popular was the twelve-sided House of Tomorrow (George Frederick Keck); as well as progressive foreign pavilions, including the Italian Pavilion (Mario de Renzi and Adalberto Libera); and historic and ethnic entertainment venues, such as the Belgian Village (Burnham Brothers with Alfons De Rijdt),[29] and the Streets of Paris (Andrew Rebori and John W. Root) where fan dancerSally Rand performed.[30] These buildings were constructed out of five-ply Douglas fir plywood, ribbed-metal siding, and prefabricated boards such as Masonite, Sheetrock, Maizewood, as well as other new man-made materials.[31] The exhibited buildings were windowless (but cheerfully lighted) buildings.[32] Structural advances also filled the fairgrounds. These included the earliest catenary roof constructed in the United States, which roofed the dome of the Travel and Transport Building (Bennet, Burnham and Holabird) and the first thin shell concrete roof in the United States, on the small, multi-vaulted Brook Hill Farm Dairy built for the 1934 season of the fair.[33]
From June to November 1933, there was an outbreak ofamoebic dysentery associated with the fair. There were more than a thousand cases, resulting in 98 deaths.[34][35][36] Joel Connolly of the Chicago Bureau of Sanitary Engineering brought the outbreak to an end when he found that defective plumbing permitted sewage to contaminate drinking water in two hotels.
Originally, the fair was scheduled only to run until November 12, 1933, but it was so successful that it was opened again to run from May 26 to October 31, 1934.[37] The fair was financed through the sale of memberships, which allowed purchases of a certain number of admissions once the park was open. More than $800,000 (equal to $18,803,980 today) was raised in this manner as the country was in theGreat Depression. A $10 millionbond was issued on October 28, 1929, the day before thestock market crashed. By the time the fair closed in 1933, half of these notes had been retired, with the entire debt paid by the time the fair closed in 1934. For the first time in American history, an international fair had paid for itself. In its two years, it had attracted 48,769,227 visitors. According toJames Truslow Adams'sDictionary of American History, during the 170 days beginning May 27, 1933, there were 22,565,859 paid admissions; during the 163 days beginning May 26, 1934, there were 16,486,377; a total of 39,052,236.[38]
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Much of the fair site is now home toNortherly Island park (since the closing ofMeigs Field) andMcCormick Place. TheBalbo Monument, given to Chicago byBenito Mussolini to honor GeneralItalo Balbo's 1933 trans-Atlantic flight, still stands nearSoldier Field. The city added a third red star to itsflag in 1933 to commemorate the Century of Progress Exposition (the Fair is now represented by the fourth of four stars on the flag).[39] In conjunction with the fair, Chicago's Italian-American community raised funds anddonated a statue ofGenoese navigator and explorerChristopher Columbus.[40] It was placed at the south end of Grant Park, near the site of the fair.
ThePolish Museum of America possesses the painting ofPulaski at Savannah byStanisław Kaczor-Batowski, which was exhibited at the Century of Progress fair and where it won first place. After the close of the fair, the painting went on display atThe Art Institute of Chicago where it was unveiled byEleanor Roosevelt on July 10, 1934. The painting was on display at the Art Institute until its purchase by the Polish Women's Alliance on the museum's behalf.[41]
The U.S. Post Office Department issued a special fifty-cent Air Mail postage stamp, (Scott catalogue number C-18) to commemorate the visit of the German airship depicting(l to r) the fair's Federal Building, theGraf Zeppelin in flight, and its home hangar inFriedrichshafen, Germany. This stamp is informally known as theBaby Zep to distinguish it from the much more valuable1930 Graf Zeppelin stamps (C13–15). Separate from this issue, for the Fair the Post Office also printed 1 and 3 centcommemorative postage stamps, showing respectivelyFort Dearborn and the modernistic Federal Building. These were also printed in separatesouvenir sheets as blocks of 25 (catalog listings 728–31). In 1935 the sheets were reprinted (Scott 766–67).
From October 2010 through September 2011, theNational Building Museum inWashington, D.C. opened an exhibition titledDesigning Tomorrow: America's World's Fairs of the 1930s.[42] This exhibition prominently featured the Century of Progress fair in Chicago.
The major archive for the Century of Progress International Exposition, including the official records from the event and the papers of Lenox Lohr, general manager of the fair, are housed in Special Collections at theUniversity of Illinois, Chicago. A collection of materials including images is held by theRyerson & Burnham Libraries at theArt Institute of Chicago. The Century of Progress Collection includes photographs, guidebooks, brochures, maps,architectural drawings, and souvenir items. Specific collections with material include the Chicago Architects Oral History Project; the Daniel H. Burnham Jr. and Hubert Burnham Papers; Edward H. Bennett Collection; Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker photographs.
