My folks spoke of this often, explaining, describing, as they in their own way kept a small kid interested in things experienced by the family. I remember their obvious joy in talking of it more than anything else. Held during the Great Depression, my dad out of work a long time, this event was intended to bolster sagging public interest in it's country and it's problems. Some of the buildings constructed specifically for the Fair were kept intact following it; one was the magnificently designed and built building of giant limestone blocks, enormous by any standards, which became later the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
That Museum intrigued me even as a kid, it having a model coal mine which was reached by visitors riding downwards a perceived hundreds of feet into the bowels of the mine in an elevator. (It was located in the basement, who knew?). Once down there, a tour guide walked the group through tunnels seemingly cut out of a huge vein of coal: floor, walls, ceiling of coal. Felt it, touched it, looked dirty like coal, which we in Chicago all knew a lot about. We heated our house with it.
I'll explain tomorrow why I'm posting this, for today my wife found the original 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair Guide which my Mother had so sensibly preserved among her mementos, found upon her death. I am scanning pages from the Guide, and will post them tomorrow. This was an event of a lifetime, to those fortunate enough to attend. imp
That Museum intrigued me even as a kid, it having a model coal mine which was reached by visitors riding downwards a perceived hundreds of feet into the bowels of the mine in an elevator. (It was located in the basement, who knew?). Once down there, a tour guide walked the group through tunnels seemingly cut out of a huge vein of coal: floor, walls, ceiling of coal. Felt it, touched it, looked dirty like coal, which we in Chicago all knew a lot about. We heated our house with it.
I'll explain tomorrow why I'm posting this, for today my wife found the original 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair Guide which my Mother had so sensibly preserved among her mementos, found upon her death. I am scanning pages from the Guide, and will post them tomorrow. This was an event of a lifetime, to those fortunate enough to attend. imp
