The Legacy of World Fairs
By Nancy Wilson

The Legacy of World Fairs

 

main_03-social.jpg (116771 bytes)The three largest international events held in the world today are the World Cup, the Olympics, and world fairs. The only one of these that does not rely on elite, talented athletes is world fairs. Instead, their focus is on visitors. Since the first world fair held in London in 1851, more than a billion visitors have attended world fairs, commonly called expositions. Are you one of a billion? You are lucky, if so.

The closest world fair to this writer’s location was held in Knoxville, Kentucky, in 1982 and had the theme "Energy Turns the World." The core of the 70-acre site primarily consisted of a deteriorating Louisville and Nashville Railroad yard and depot. The railroad yard was demolished, with the exception of a single rail line, and the depot was renovated into a restaurant.

The fair drew over 11 million visitors, making it one of the best-attended world fairs in US history, and the fair itself even turned a small profit ($57 according to Wikepedia). But that was way short of the projected $5 million surplus, and the city of Knoxville was left with a $46 million debt. Like many cities, Knoxville had justified the expenses involved in its sponsorship of a world fair on the grounds that it would spur urban redevelopment. The fair’s Sunsphere, a 266-foot steel tower topped with a five-story gold globe, still stands and remains an iconic symbol for the city of Knoxville. The Tennessee Amphitheater, the only structure other than the Sunsphere that remained from the World Fair, was condemned to demolition in 2002, but was renovated between 2005 and 2007, and reopened in 2007. That same amphitheater has since been voted one of the top 15 architectural works of East Tennessee by the East Tennessee chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Many other World Fairs, like the 1899 Universal Exposition in Paris, have been more successful in their architectural legacy. Despite its demonization as "useless and monstrous" and "a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack," the Eiffel Tower stands as one of the most famous visual symbols of a city known today.

One of the cities that has benefited the most from its world fair is Seattle, Washington. The planning for 1962’s Century 21 Exposition aimed at creating an engine for urban development, and the planners did that so well that many people who visit the city don’t even realize that a fair was held there. Most of us have heard of Seattle’s Space Needle, and it has become an icon of the city itself, currently housing a restaurant at its top. The city also benefited from a monorail that snakes through parts of the city and the Space Age gothic United States Pavilion that has become the Pacific Science Center.

Although the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago lost money, the Ferris Wheel introduced there saved the fair from bankruptcy. George Washington Ferris, Jr., a civil engineer specializing in steel bridge design, built the 264-foot wheel with suspended carriages that could take 2,160 passengers at a time for a bird's-eye view of the fairgrounds. The wheel surpassed the Eiffel Tower in height, and offered breathtaking views of the fair and the city. It held 36 gondolas each capable of holding 60 passengers. 3000 of Edison’s new incandescent light bulbs were mounted on the wheel, which made it a dazzling sight as they blinked on and off. Riders enjoyed a 10 – 20 minute experience like no other they had ever had. Ferris’ success attached his name to all subsequent versions of the device, and Ferris’ wheel was the most lasting memory many visitors took away from the Columbian Exposition.

The Chicago Exposition also introduced the concept of the midway, the lively entertainment area where the Ferris Wheel was displayed. In addition, the architecture at the Columbian Exposition shaped our nation’s style for the next 25 years.

The popular success of the Chicago fair ignited a fair-building craze in the United States. Fairs were held in Atlanta (1895); Nashville (1897); Omaha (1898); Buffalo (1901), the Pan-American Exposition where President William McKinley was assassinated; St. Louis (1904), which spawned a musical movie and song, Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland; Portland (1905); Jamestown (1907); Seattle (1909); and San Diego and San Francisco (1915-16) during which World War I erupted.

After the war Europeans quickly returned to sponsoring world fairs to rebuild their devastated economies and boost the morale of their countrymen. Not wanting to be left behind, the United States arranged for the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition. It was a total flop with poor attendance and large financial losses, leaving many to wonder if world fairs in the United States might be a thing of the past.

sunsphere.jpg (672930 bytes)But businessmen in Chicago were busily planning another fair to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of the city and the fortieth anniversary of the successful 1893 fair. Although plans were interrupted by the depression, the Century of Progress eventually was held in 1933-34. This and future world fairs put thousands of people to work and gave Americans hope for the future.

World fairs are not only places to display new technology and ideas for the future, but also to introduce delicacies from other countries. Visitors to the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle consumed over 400,000 oysters a day and about 100,000 pounds of cheese. At the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition concessions ranged from cold meats and pies to porterhouse steaks and cuisines from faraway lands. Pabst beer won its current full name by winning the fair’s Blue Ribbon.

Other food fancies that have gained popularity at world fairs are popcorn, hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream cones, iced tea, cotton candy, peanut butter, and Belgian waffles, although these are a far cry from the original Brussells waffles.

World fairs took their visitors on imaginary journeys to foreign lands, showed them new products being developed at the time, demonstrated what the future held for their homes and filled their stomachs with a myriad of new tastes. Manufacturers, like Colt, McCormick, Edison, Bessemer and Krupp, that exhibited at world fairs benefited greatly in finding new markets among visitors from across the nation and around the world. Architectural styles were changed forever by fair exhibitions, and city planners developed entirely new theories about how to integrate traffic flow successfully.

So whether you in your lifetime have been able to attend a world fair or not, your life has been permanently changed by their existence.


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