Saturday, April 30, 2011

1933 Chicago World's Fair 1933, Century of Progress, History ,Legacy,and Posters

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. Its motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Adapts" and 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.

History

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. The site selected was new parkland being created along the Lake Michigan shoreline between 12th and 39th streets in Near South Side, Chicago. Held on a 427 acre (1.7 km²) portion of Burnham Park the Century of Progress opened on May 27, 1933. The fair was opened when the lights were automatically activated when light from the rays of the star Arcturus was 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 photo-electric 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, to create a "Rainbow City" as opposed to the "White City" of the World's Columbian Exposition. The buildings generally had a Moderne design to them in contrast to the neoclassical themes used at the 1893 fair. One of the more famous aspects of the fair were the performances of fan dancer Sally Rand. Other popular exhibits were the various auto manufacturers, the Midway (filled with nightclubs such as the Old Morocco, where future stars Judy GarlandThe Cook Family Singers, and The Andrews Sistersperformed), and a recreation of important scenes from Chicago's history. The fair also contained exhibits that would 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,

Cover carried on the Graf Zeppelin from 1933 Century of Progress Expositionfranked with C-18 US Air Mail stamp issued for the airship's visit.
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, CommanderHugo 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)[5] then took off ahead of an approaching weather front bound for Akron, Ohio. For some Chicagoans, however, the appearance of the Graf Zeppelin over their fair city was not a welcome sight, as the airship had become a prominent reminder of the ascendancy of Adolf Hitler to power earlier that same year. This triggered dissension in the days following its visit, particularly within the city's large German-American population.
The "dream cars" which American automobile manufacturers exhibited at the fair includedCadillac's introduction of its V-16 limousine; Nash's exhibit had a variation on the vertical (i.e.,paternoster) 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.

The passengers, including "Zeph" the burro, that rode the Zephyr on the "Dawn-to-Dusk Dash" gather for a group photo in front of the train after arriving in Chicago on May 26, 1934.
One interesting and 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 (Hilgos) 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 in 1607 when sea power first reached America and carrying through World War I.
The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park (home of the Chicago White Sox) in conjunction with the fair.

Frank Buck souvenir badge
In May 1934 the Union Pacific Railroad exhibited its first streamlined train, the M-10000, and the Burlington Route its famous Zephyr, which made a record-breaking dawn-to-dusk run from Denver, Colorado, to Chicago in 13 hours and 5 minutes. To cap its record-breaking speed run, the Zephyrarrived 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 Buck created at Amityville, Long Island


Success

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. 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 was raised in this manner as the country came out of the Great Depression. A $10 million bondwas issued on October 28, 1929, the day before the stock 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 to James Truslow Adams's Dictionary 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.

Legacy

Much of the fair site is now home to Northerly Island park (since the closing of Meigs Field) and McCormick Place. A column from the ruins of a Roman temple in Ostia given to Chicago by the Italian government to honor General Italo Balbo's 1933 trans-Atlantic flight still stands near Soldier Field. The city added a red star to its flag in 1933 to commemorate the Century of Progress Exposition (at the time, it was the third star – the City added a fourth star in 1939).
The Polish Museum of America possesses the painting of "Pulaski at Savannah" by Stanisław 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 at The Art Institute of Chicagowhere it was unveiled by Eleanor 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.
The U.S. Post Office Department issued a special fifty-cent Air Mail postage stamp, (C-18) to commemorate the visit of the German airship depicting (l to r) the Federal Building in Chicago, the Graf Zeppelin in flight, and its home hangar in Friedrichshafen, Germany. This stamp is informally known as the Baby Zep to distinguish it from the much more valuable 1930 Zeppelin issues (C13–15). Separate from this issue, for the Fair the Post Office also printed 1 and 3 cent commemorative postage stamps, showing respectively Fort Dearborn and the modernistic Federal Building. These were also printed in separate souvenir sheets as imperforated blocks of 25 (catalog listings 728–31). In 1935 the sheets were reprinted (Scott 766-67).

Resources

A collection of materials including images is held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Century of Progress Collection includes photographs, guidebooks, brochures, maps, architectural drawings, and souvenir items.

World's Fair: Columbian Exposition (The Chicago World's Fair1893)


The World's Columbian Exposition (the official shortened name for the World's Fair: Columbian Exposition, also known as The Chicago World's Fair) was aWorld's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary ofChristopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York CityWashington, D.C.; and St. Louis for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism. The Chicago Columbian Exposition was, in large part, designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted. It was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be. It was designed to followBeaux Arts principles of design, namely French neoclassical architecture principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendor.
The exposition covered more than 600 acres (2.4 km2), featuring nearly 200 new (but purposefully temporary) buildings of predominately neoclassical architecture, canalsand lagoons, and people and cultures from around the world. More than 27 million people (equivalent to about half the U.S. population) attended the exposition during its six-month run. Its scale and grandeur far exceeded the other world fairs, and it became a symbol of the emerging American Exceptionalism, much in the same way that the Great Exhibitionbecame a symbol of the Victorian era United Kingdom.
Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not actually opened to the public until May 1, 1893. The fair continued until October 30, 1893. In addition to recognizing the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World by Europeans, the fair also served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire. This had destroyed much of the city in 1871. On October 9, 1893, the day designated as Chicago Day, the fair set a record for outdoor event attendance, drawing 716,881 persons to the fair.
Many prominent civic, professional, and commercial leaders from around the United States participated in the financing, coordination, and management of the Fair, including Chicago shoe tycoon Charles Schwab, Chicago railroad and manufacturing magnate John Whitfield Bunn, and Connecticut banking, insurance, and iron products magnate Milo Barnum Richardson, among many others.
The exposition was such a major event in Chicago that one of the stars on the municipal flag honors it.
World's Fair: Columbian Exposition  Photo Gallery
The Statue of the Republic overlooks the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893
Print of Chicago World Fair 1893

Jackson Park (Chicago) during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
WorldColumbianExpositionExhibitHall
White City

The Administration Building, seen from the Agricultural Building. 
Midway Plaisance  
A train of the Intramural Railway 

Shanghai Expo 2010‑China






Expo 2010, officially Expo 2010 Shanghai China (simplified Chinese: 中国2010年上海世界博览会; pinyin: Zhōngguó Èrlíngyīlíng Nián Shànghǎi Shìjìe Bólǎnhuì) was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai, China, from May 1 to October 31, 2010. It was a major World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 1992. The theme of the exposition was "Better City – Better Life" and signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st century as the "next great world city".[1] The Expo emblem features the Chinese character 世 ('world', Chinese "shì") modified to represent three people together with the 2010 date. It had the largest number of countries participating and was the most expensive Expo in the history of the world's fairs. The Shanghai World Expo was also the largest World's Fair site ever at 5.28 square km.
By the end of the expo, over 73 million people had visited, a record attendance and 250 countries and international organizations had participated. On October 16, 2010, the expo set a single-day record of having over 1.03 million visitors enter the exhibition that day.



History

 Early participation and hosting

Liang Qichao, one of the many scholars to write about the possibility of hosting an expo
Shanghai has been one of the main cities envisioned to host the expos for some time. Many scholars have written about the possibility and made suggestions in books. Unofficial participation in fairs outside China have happened since 1851. In 1910 the Qing dynasty decided to host China's first fair with the 1910 Nanyang industrial exposition.

 Selection process

Shanghai scored the highest in each of the four rounds of voting at the 132nd Meeting of the International Exhibitions Bureau in Prince's Palace of Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco, with Yeosu, South Korea maintaining second place. Yeosu later won the bid to host Expo 2012, a three-month specialized world expo.
132nd Meeting of the International Exhibitions Bureau
December 3, 2002, in Prince's Palace of Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
City Nation Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4
Shanghai  China 36 38 44 54
Yeosu  South Korea 28 34 32 34
Moscow  Russia 12 10 12 -
Querétaro  Mexico 6 6 - -
Wrocław  Poland 6 - - -

Organization

Better City, Better Life, the theme of Expo 2010.
The site of the event was the Nanpu Bridge–Lupu Bridge region in the center of Shanghai along both sides of the Huangpu River. The area of the Expo 2010 covers 5.28 km2.
After winning the bid to host the Expo in 2002, Shanghai began a monumental task to reshape the city. More than AU$48billionwas spent for the preparation, more than the cost of cleaning up Beijing in the preparations for the Olympics in 2008. Shanghai began clearing 2.6 square kilometres along the Huangpu River; that involved moving 18,000 families and 270 factories, including the Jiang Nan Shipyard, which employs 10,000 workers.
Six new subway lines were opened between 2008 and 2010; four thousand brand new taxis were added in the month before Expo2010 opened and city night lights improved, using energy-saving LED technology.
During the expo, the expo site was crowded with national pavilions, sculpture gardens, shops, a sports arena and clam-shaped performing arts centre.
Shanghai trained more than 1.7 million volunteers and adopted Olympic-level security measures, adding metal detectors to subway entrances and screening cars entering the city.
The Shanghai Expo also featured an online version of the expo grounds featuring 3D renderings of the expo grounds, and a 3D version of the pavilion interior and offerings.

 Participation

The Shanghai World Expo provided an unparalleled opportunity for the tourism industry. During 2010’s Spring Festival, Shanghai received 2.79 million tourists, an increase of 12 percent from the previous year, resulting in record high numbers of visitors. Overall Shanghai’s tourism revenue achieved an increase of 13 percent year on year during Spring Festival, resulting in RMB 2.1 billion in total revenue.
Flags of participating countries waving in front of the China pavilion
192 countries and 50 organizations registered to participate in the Shanghai World Expo. A record number.

 Attendance

After six months, 73,084,400 total visitors visited Expo 2010, breaking the previous record set by Expo 70, which had attracted around 64 million visitors. Organizers had expected 70 million visitors at the start of the expo. Approximately 94% of attendees were Chinese nationals.Shortly after the Expo concluded, news reports emerged detailing how state employees (including workers of state-owned companies) were "ordered to pile onto buses, trains and planes and head to the Expo 2010 in Shanghai" in order to fulfill the target of 70 million visitors. Employees of some state-owned companies were allegedly threatened with loss of their wages if they did not attend. Coupled with the fact that only a limited number of visitors were allowed into each pavilion at a time, this contributed to the extremely long lines.

 Opening ceremony

Fireworks in the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony was held in the evening of April 30, 2010 attended by dozens of world leaders.The ceremony consisted of an indoor and outdoor component. Jackie Chan, Lang Lang, and Andrea Bocelli were among the performers in the indoor component. The event featured an outdoor display of fireworks, lasers, and dancing fountains after a performance by singers and dancers.The outdoor ceremony was produced by David Atkins Enterprises. 6,000 LED balls were floated into the Huangpu river representing fish. Organisers called the outdoor show "the largest searchlight display in history, the largest collection of multi-coloured laser firepower ever assembled in one place, the world’s largest LED screen, one of the largest dancing water fountains ever, and the “largest light show ever attempted”. President Hu Jintao inaugurated the opening of the Shanghai World Expo.

 Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held on October 31, 2010, with numerous world leaders in attendance including Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister of China, Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland, Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of Bahamas, Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho, Ram Baran Yadav, President of Nepal and Ban Ki-moon, General Secretary of the United Nations.

 Expo music

 Performances

About 20,000 performances were set to be staged between May 1 and October 31 in 2010, many singers present at the expo song writing and preparation process since 2008. Performers included Alan Tam, Gigi Leung, Stephanie Cheng, Khalil Fong, Hacken Lee, Denise Ho, Hins Cheung, Vincy Chan, and the Harvard Din & Tonics.

 Theme songs

  • The official theme songs of the Expo were "City" by Jackie Chan and "Better City, Better Life" by Quincy Jones.
  • The promotional song of the Expo was "Right Here Waiting for You 2010" (simplified Chinese: 2010等你来; pinyin: èr líng yī líng děng nǐ lái).Released during the 30-day countdown on April 1, it was originally written by a Japanese singer, Mayo Okamoto. Okamoto's agency announced that the Expo Committee requested the permission of the use of the song, and Okamoto's management agreed.
  • The theme song for Shanghai World Expo volunteers was "By Your Side" (simplified Chinese: 在你身边; traditional Chinese: 在你身邊; pinyin: zài nǐ shēn biān) by Eason Chan.
  • The theme song for the Shanghai World Expo for the Chinese culture was "The World Watching China", sung by Korean/Chinese singer Han Geng.

 Mascot

Haibao.
Haibao was the mascot of the Shanghai Expo 2010. It means treasure of the sea and was based on the Chinese character for man or person, "人". Some say that Haibao resembles Gumby,but the expo's secretariat said that it was an original design chosen through a competition and that they had never heard of Gumby.

 Expo Axis

Expo Axis at night.
Expo Axis.
The main building – called "Expo Axis" – has the world's largest membrane constructionand was built by SBA (architects) and Knippers Helbig (structural engineers). The building consists of some steel-glass funnels with a 1,000 m long membrane construction. The main construction was completed at the end of 2009.Pavilions

Theme pavilions

There were five central theme pavilions at the Expo 2010, exploring different aspects of urban development. They were called Urban Footprints, Urban Planet, Urbanian, City Being, and Urban Future.

 National pavilions

Shanghai Expo 2010.jpg

Shanghai Expo 2010 3.jpg
National pavilions included: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pacific Pavilion, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.

 Corporate pavilions

Corporate pavilions included: Aurora Pavilion, Broad Pavilion, China Railway, China State Shipbuilding Corporation Pavilion, Coca-Cola Pavilion, Cisco Pavilion, Information and Communication Pavilion, Oil Pavilion, Japanese Industry, PICC, Private Enterprises Joint Pavilion, Republic of Korea Business, SAIC-GM Pavilion, Shanghai Corporate Joint Pavilion, Space Pavilion, Space Home Pavilion, State Grid and Vanke Pavilion.

 Legacy

The Expo introduced numerous urban best practices and concepts from all over the world which the organisers hope will be a lasting legacy for better urban life in China and around the world. It advocated for future development to focus on environmental sustainability, efficiency and diversity. The innovations and achievements of the event were summarised in the Shanghai Declaration issued by the participants of the Expo. The declaration also nominated the Shanghai Expo’s closing day October 31 as "World Better Cities Day". United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated at the closing of the Expo, "Thanks to this Expo, millions of people learned about possibilities for making our cities healthier and safer, cities that better integrate nature and technology, cities that offer their citizens cleaner air and water, and better lives all around".
Shanghai has announced plans to build a World Expo Museum with the intention of exhibiting Expo exhibits and popularising World Expo history.
The Shanghai Expo was touted by the Chinese government as yet another first-rate global scale event, similar in significance to the Beijing Olympics, which would symbolise the economic and political rise of China in the 21st century. The event would demonstrate to both the Chinese populace and foreign nations the enormous progress of China's urban development in the heart of the nation's economic hub of Shanghai. The event received saturation media coverage in the Chinese media both in the lead up and during the World Expo. According to China analyst Tom Doctoroff, “In terms of what the city was able to achieve, the Chinese were impressed. Shanghai stepped up a level in internationalization”. Although the event was widely recognised domestically, the Expo was far less effective in reaching a global audience. This was demonstrated by the fact that only less than 10% of the 70 million plus visitors was foreign.

 Controversies

A number of controversies surrounding the Shanghai Expo existed. Some involving domestic issues while others involve other countries that participated in the Expo. The issues range from human rights, politics or responses from the government at the time of the hosting of the Expo.

The First World's Fair

What we call a “world’s fair” is really an exposition. The fair is one of the oldest and most popular means of selling and trading goods. Expositions, on the other hand, are for a different purpose. These large displays are set up mainly to show the industrial and artistic development of a particular country or a particular period. The first exposition, or “world’s fair’, was The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. It was held in Hyde Park, London, in 1851. The exhibition was housed in one building, the Crystal Palace. This permanent building was made entirely of iron and glass, like a huge greenhouse. It was destroyed by fire in 1936.
The First World's Fair Poster
The First World's Fair Poster

1964 New York World's Fair Photos

1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo
1964 New York World's Fair Photo

1939 New York World's Fair


1939 New York World's Fair Map View 

The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres (4.92 km2) ofFountain Lake , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. The NYWF of 1939–1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at "the world of tomorrow". According to the official New York World's Fair pamphlet,
"The eyes of the Fair are on the future – not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting a new and clearer view of today in preparation for tomorrow; a view of the forces and ideas that prevail as well as the machines. To its visitors the Fair will say: "Here are the materials, ideas, and forces at work in our world. These are the tools with which the World of Tomorrow must be made. They are all interesting and much effort has been expended to lay them before you in an interesting way. Familiarity with today is the best preparation for the future.'"

Planning


Trylon and Perisphere on US stamp from 1939.
In 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, a group of New York City retired policemen decided to create an international exposition to lift the city and the country out of depression. Not long after, these men formed the New York World's Fair Corporation, whose office was placed on one of the higher floors in the Empire State Building. The NYWFC elected former chief of police Grover Whalen as the president of their committee. The whole committee consisted of Winthrop AldrichMortimer BucknerFloyd CarlisleJohn J. DunniganHarvey Dow Gibson, Mayor Fiorello La GuardiaPercy S. Straus, and many other business leaders.
Over the next four years, the committee planned, built, and organized the fair and its exhibits, with countries around the world taking part in creating the biggest international event since World War I. Working closely with the Fair's committee was Robert Moses, New York City Parks Commissioner, who saw great value to the City in having the World's Fair Corporation (at its expense) remove a vast ash dump in Queens that was to be the site for the exposition, and turn the area into a City park after the exposition closed.
Edward Bernays directed public relations of the fair in 1939, which he called 'democricity'. Grover Whalen, a public relations innovator, saw the Fair as an opportunity for corporations to present consumer products, rather than as an exercise in presenting science and the scientific way of thinking in its own right, as Harold Urey,Albert Einstein and other scientists wished to see the project."As events transpired," reported Carl Sagan, whose own interest in science was nevertheless sparked by the Fair's gadgetry, "almost no real science was tacked on to the Fair's exhibits, despite the scientists' protests and their appeals to high principles."
Promotion of this great event took many forms. In 1938, the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, and New York Yankees baseball teams did their part to promote the upcoming fair by wearing patches on their jerseys featuring the Trylon, Perisphere, and "1939" on their left sleeve.Howard Hughes flew a special World's Fair flight around the world to promote the fair in 1938.
While the main purpose of the fair was to lift the spirits of the United States and drive much-needed business to New York City, it was also felt that there should be a cultural or historical association. It was therefore decided that the fair opening would correspond to the 150th anniversary of George Washington's first inauguration as President of the United States.

1939 New York World's Fair View
1939 New York World's Fair View
1939 New York World's Fair View

1982 World's Fair

The 1982 World’s Fair gave us more to talk about than just cultural exchange, painting robots, and Petro’s. One day after the fair ended the largest Knoxville-based white-collar crime investigation in history hit the fan, throwing fair-leader Jake Butcher behind bars for banking fraud.
For six months Knoxville basked in the global spotlight, all while catching a new nickname from the New York Times, “a scruffy little city”. Perhaps the Times should have organized the event themselves seeing as how “scruffy” wasn’t the name-tag you wanted to adorn in the ’80s.
Even after all those years Knoxvillian’s still stand proud today as the curators of the world’s largest disco ball. Eat your heart out John Travolta.
Some said Knoxville couldn’t do it but we did. Many said we couldn’t pedal retro-styled fair tee’s almost 27 years later, but we are.
To those that remember the fair and to those still scratching your head because you’re too young to remember, we present twenty images of the 1982 World’s Fair courtesy of flickr user and Knoxvillian, bellawest.
 Images Of 1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair Map
1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair