Chicago’s 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, which opened is the subject of the #stampoftheday for Monday, May 25.
Held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its incorporation as a village, the exposition was organized by a non-profit corporation and held on 427 acres of newly reclaimed land along the shore of Lake Michigan, from 12th to 39th Streets on the Near South Side. (Creating this land had been part of Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan for Chicago).
The two stamps, which were issued on May 25, 1933 (two days before the exposition opened), featured two structures closely associated with the exposition. The 1-cent stamp depicts Fort Dearborn, the original site of Chicago, which had twice been destroyed and which had been restored for the exposition. The other shows the nearby Federal Building, which organizers used in many of their promotional materials to show how far the city had come in the past century. The building, which housed federal courts, the main post office, and other federal agencies, was designed in the Beaux Arts Style by Henry Ives Cobb and opened in 1905. It was demolished in 1965 and replaced with the Kluczynski Federal Building.
The theme of the exposition was technological innovation, and its motto was “Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Adapts.” One description noted that the world, “then still mired in the malaise of the Great Depression, could glimpse a happier not-too-distant future, all driven by innovation in science and technology.” Exposition visitors saw the latest wonders in rail travel, automobiles, architecture and also had the unique opportunity to see cigarette-smoking robots. In addition, Major League Baseball All-Star Game first All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park (home of the Chicago White Sox) in conjunction with the exposition.
To highlight its themes of progress, fair organizers turned decisions regarding the site layout and the architectural style of the exposition over to an architectural commission, led by Paul Cret and Raymond Hood, whose members included Edward Bennett, John Holabird, and Hubert Burnham (but not Frank Lloyd Wright, who organizers believed (correctly) was unable to work well with others). Commission members agreed that the exposition’s buildings would be multi-colored, to create a “Rainbow City” as compared to the “White City” of Chicago’s earlier World’s Columbian Exposition. They also decided that the buildings should not reinterpret past architectural forms – as had been done at earlier expositions, such as Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition-but should instead reflect new, modern ideas, as well as suggest future architectural developments.
Their ideas were greatly facilitated by the fact that the exposition was being held on new man-made land owned by the state, not the city. This meant it was not subject to Chicago’s strict building codes. Thus architects were able to use new building materials such as five-ply Douglas fir plywood, ribbed-metal siding, and prefabricated, boards, such as Masonite, Sheetrock, and Maizewood and new building techniques, including the country’s earliest catenary roof and its first first thin shell concrete roof. Many of the new building techniques were highlighted in the fair’s Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition, which consisted of twelve model homes sponsored by several corporations affiliated with home decor and construction.
Even though an outbreak of amoebic dysentery associated with the exposition made more than 1,000 people sick and killed about 100 people, the far was a popular success. (The outbreak ended when a city health official found that defective plumbing had permitted sewage to contaminate drinking water in two hotels.). In fact, the exposition was so successful that rather than ending, as planned, in November 1933, it was extended for a second year. By the time it closed, more than 48 million people had attended and it became the first international exposition to pay for itself.
While the site mainly lay dormant for the rest of the 1930s and during World War II, it ultimately housed important city facilities. In 1948, some of it became Meigs Field, a single-runway airport that operated from 1946 until 2003. The city is in the midst of a long-range effort to turn it into a park and nature reserve (and has already opened a 40-acre park on the southern part of the site). In 1960, McCormick Place, the city’s convention center, opened on part of the site as well.
The exposition has made some appearances in popular culture. Some of Nelson Algren’s 1935 novel “Somebody in Boots” takes place at the exposition, which he described as “the brief city sprung out of the prairie and falling again into dust.” And Jean Shepherd, who was an important figure in my adolescence, wrote about attending the exposition in his memoir, “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.”
Apologies in advance to those who know Chicago better than I do. Feel free to correct any mistakes.
Stay safe and be well.