A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), celebrated the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation, as reflected in its, sleek, modern, Art Deco design, and in its unofficial motto "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms". The exhibits at the fair intended to demonstrate how science connected with people's daily lives and how the marriage of science, technology, and industry would lead to national recovery and prosperity. Its architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to the other.
Although planning for the fair began prior to the stock market crash, by the time it took place, the world was deep into the Great Depression. Thus, the fair became a beacon of optimism for the country, emphasizing the potential of scientific progress, while seeking to re-instill public trust in big business and capitalism. The fair also featured carnival-style games, rides, and entertainment, and served as a source of fantastical escapism for visitors during otherwise largely bleak era. Chicago's businessmen and politicians hoped the tourism and the jobs created by the fair would help to jump start an economic recovery for their city.
The fair highlighted the enormous scientific and technological advancements that had taken place over the prior 100 years of the city's history - and even in the 40 years since the Columbian Exposition - particularly electricity, radio, communications, transportation, and modern medicine, and asked visitors to imagine what life would be like in 100 years in the future. The fair's underlying message "was that science, if properly funded and respected, would serve American civilization and catapult it into a better future."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered the Chicago World's Fair - and the countries other fair's during the 1930s - to be auxiliary to the goals of the New Deal, namely getting people back to work and stimulating consumer spending. He also saw such events as an opportunity to encourage "peace and good will among all nations" at a time of geo-political instability and uncertainty. In an opening-day message sent to the fair, Roosevelt said "I welcome the celebration you are now beginning. It is timely not only because it marks a century of accomplishment, but it comes at a time when the world needs nothing so much as a better mutual understanding of the peoples of the earth."
Context
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 the Near South Side for the fairgrounds.Schrenk, Lisa D. (2007). Building a Century of Progress: The Architecture of the 1933–34 Chicago World's FairUniversity of Minnesota Press. p. 4. . Held on a portion of Burnham Park, the $37,500,000 (equal to $ today) exposition was formally opened on May 27, 1933, by U.S. Postmaster General James Farley at a four-hour ceremony at Soldier Field.Chicago Fair Opened by Farley; Rays of Arcturus Start Lights. Postmaster General Conveys President's Hope That Exposition Will Help Friendship Among Nations—First Day's Attendance Estimated at About 250,000. The New York Times, May 28, 1933, p. 1 The fair's opening night began with a nod to the heavens. Lights were automatically activated when the rays of the star Arcturus were detected. The star was chosen as its light had started its journey at about the time of the previous Chicago world's fair—the World's Columbian Exposition—in 1893. The rays were focused on photoelectric cells in a series of astronomical observatories and then transformed into electrical energy which was transmitted to Chicago.
Exhibits
The fair buildings were multi-colored, creating a "Rainbow City" as compared with the "White City" of Chicago's earlier World's Columbian Exposition. The buildings generally followed Moderne architecture in contrast to the neoclassical themes used at the 1893 fair. One famous feature of the fair were the performances of fan dancer Sally 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 stars Judy Garland, the Cook Family Singers, and the 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 of African Americans, a "Midget City" complete with "sixty Lilliputians", and an exhibition of incubators containing real babies.Baby Incubators, Omaha Public Library .
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 for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable to be honored at the fair. At the time, few Chicagoans had even heard of Point du Sable, and the fair's organizers presented the 1803 construction of Fort 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". Also on display was the "Lincoln Group" of reconstructions of buildings associated with the biography of Abraham Lincoln, including his birth cabin, the Lincoln-Berry General Store, the Chicago Wigwam (in reduced scale), and the Rutledge Tavern which served as a restaurant.
Admiral Byrd's polar expedition ship the City of New York was visited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he came to the fair on October 2, 1933. The City was on show for the full length of the exhibition.
One of the highlights of the 1933 World's Fair was the arrival of the German airship Graf Zeppelin on October 26, 1933. After circling Lake Michigan near the exposition for two hours, Commander Hugo Eckener landed the 776-foot airship at the nearby Curtiss-Wright Airport in Glenview. It remained on the ground for twenty-five minutes (from 1 to 1:25 pm) then took off ahead of an approaching weather front, bound for Akron, Ohio.
The "dream cars" which American automobile manufacturers exhibited at the fair included Rollston bodywork on a Duesenberg chassis, and was called the Twenty Grand ultra-luxury sedan; Cadillac's introduction of its V-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 the Lincoln-Zephyr, which went on the market in 1936 with a front engine; Pierce-Arrow presented its modernistic Pierce Silver Arrow for which it used the byline "Suddenly it's 1940!" But it was Packard which won the best of show with the reintroduction of the Packard Twelve.
An enduring exhibit was the 1933 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.
Marine artist Hilda 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 of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 when sea power first reached America and carrying through World War I. Another set of murals, painted for the Ohio State Exhibit by William Mark Young, was relocated afterwards to the Ohio Statehouse. Young also painted scenes of the exhibition buildings.
The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park (home of the Chicago White Sox) in conjunction with the fair.
In May 1934, the Union Pacific Railroad exhibited its first streamlined train, the M-10000, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad its famous Zephyr 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, the Zephyr arrived dramatically on-stage at the fair's "Wings of a Century" transportation pageant. The two trains launched an era of industrial streamlining. Both trains later went into successful revenue service, the Union Pacific's as the City of Salina, and the Burlington Zephyr as the first Pioneer Zephyr.. The Zephyr is now on exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
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 at Amityville, New York.Frank Buck's Jungleland
Architecture
Planning for the design of the Exposition began over five years prior to Opening Day.For a detailed discussion of the architecture of the Century of Progress International Expositions, see Schrenk, Lisa D. (2007). Building a Century of Progress: The Architecture of the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair. University of Minnesota Press. . 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 by Paul Cret and Raymond Hood.Chicago World's Fair Centennial Celebration of 1933 Board of Trustees, Resolution, February 21, 1928, Available in the Century of Progress Archive, University of Illinois, Chicago. Local architects on the committee included Edward 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.Raymond Hood to Frank Lloyd Wright, Letter, February 16, 1931, Taliesin Archives, Avery Library, Columbia University.For more on Frank Lloyd Wright and the Century of Progress see Lisa D. Schrenk (2007). Building a Century of Progress: The Architecture of the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair. University of Minnesota Press. p. 188-199 Members of this committee ended up designing most of the large, thematic exhibition pavilions.Schrenk, Lisa D. (2007). Building a Century of Progress: The Architecture of the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair. University of Minnesota Press. p. 70. .