World's Fairs

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a series of international exhibitions in major cities around the globe attracted millions of visitors to national and corporate pavilions that demonstrated their industrial and cultural achievements. Many products now in common use were first seen by the general public at world's fairs, such as the telephone (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1876); the phonograph (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1), in Paris, France (1889); incandescent lights and the Ferris wheel (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), in Chicago, Illinois (1893); the ice-cream cone (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1), in St. Louis, Missouri (1904); television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), in New York (1939); and the IBM (see entry under 1980s—Commerce in volume 5) computer, in New York (1964).

The first modern world's fair was London's Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, organized under the leadership of Prince Albert (1819–1861). The first in the United States was Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition of 1876, which commemorated the one hundredth anniversary of national independence. Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893 marked the rebirth of the city after the fire of 1871; it was famous for its "White City" that inspired the City Beautiful movement in architecture and city planning. In 1933, Chicago's Century of Progress fair celebrated the city's centennial. The 1958 Brussels World's Fair celebrated Europe's revival after World War II (1939–45).

With its "World of Tomorrow" theme, the New York's World's Fair that opened in 1939 offered an optimistic view of the future to Depression-weary visitors. The Futurama exhibit of General Motors (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) imagined the United States as it might appear in 1960, complete with television, an elaborate highway system (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), high-rise urban centers, suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), and modern farms. The fair's symbols were the Trylon and Perisphere, an obelisk next to a sphere that included a prototypical utopian city called "Democracity." Unlike earlier fairs, the New York World's Fair of 1964 had few national pavilions, with most of the exhibits instead constructed by U.S. corporations to promote their products and images.

World's fairs in the later twentieth century had far less of an impact on the general public, for whom television, the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), and theme parks provided much of the information and entertainment once offered by international expositions.

—Edward Moran

For More Information

Allwood, John. The Great Exhibitions. New York: Studio Vista, 1978.

Badger, Reid. The Great American Fair: The World's Columbia Exposition and American Culture. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1979.

Findling, John E. Chicago's Great World's Fairs. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1994.

Harrison, Helen. Dawn of a New Day: The New York World's Fair, 1939/40. New York: New York University Press, 1980.