Ny World's Fair 1939-1940

The 1930’s were a time when social changes were happening at a much faster pace than in recent years passed. The fair culture of America was also changing. It was sort of evolving into what was to become an unrecognizable creation, both in the physical sense and the ideological sense. The fairs of the 1930’s however, while being the first time in history where we see large additions of amusement without purpose, as in today’s massive regional amusement parks. The old splendor of educational dioramas and panoramas of lands in the four corners of the earth was quickly disappearing.
The 1939-1940 World’s Fair, held in Flushing Meadows, was undoubtedly the flagship fair, escorting out the traditions of the past and harmonizing the remaining ones with a new kind of spectacle that included rides and used nudity abundantly to attract attention. The 1939 fair was not the first to begin incorporating some of the new attractions or building techniques. However, it did take the successes of the previous nine or so years and used them collectively and on a much larger scale than ever before.
The first great World’s Fair of the 1930’s was first thought about around 1923 and was officially in the planning since late 1927. It was to be Chicago hosting its second World’s Fair and was given the unconvincing working name, “Chicago’s Second World’s Fair.” A three mile strip of land bordering Lake Michigan, only a quarter of a mile wide, was chosen as the site of the second fair. The fair’s board of directors decided to stray from the traditional historical theme to focus more on man’s recent giant strides in the sciences. This led to the choosing of the much more appealing name “A Century of Progress” in June 1929.
Four months later, in October 1929, the stock market crashed. As the fair was already in its second year of planning, the board of directors took the road of continuing preparations to hold the fair in 1933, Chicago’s one hundred year anniversary. The men on this... [continues]

Read full essay