Century of Progress Collection

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name given to the World’s Fair, held along the Chicago lakefront from June 1 to November 1, 1933, and May 26 to October 31, 1934. This was the second international exposition held in Chicago during a 40-year period; the first was the World’s Columbian Exposition, which in 1893 played host to over 27 million people in Jackson Park on the city’s South Side. A Century of Progress was equally as popular. The fairgrounds bordered 39th Street on the South and Roosevelt Road on the North and included Northly Island and the lagoons.

The fair was originally conceived to mark Chicago's one-hundred-year anniversary. Its motto was “Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Adapts.” The exhibits highlighted scientific and technological discoveries in industry and modern society, but also included modern advancements in art, literature, and architecture from across the globe. Exhibits from all over the world included new automobile designs, houses of the future, and babies living in incubators as well as foreign villages and historical replicas such as old Fort Dearborn. There was also an abundance of carnival entertainment that included a Sky Ride, a cable-suspended people mover higher than any building in Chicago. The Midway provided games, a roller coaster, shows, and food vendors.

Planning began in 1926 when Mayor William E. Dever appointed a Centennial Committee of 150 members. Rufus C. Dawes was elected President, Chicago World’s Fair Centennial Celebration in 1928. The fair buildings were multi-colored, to create a “Rainbow City” as compared to the “White City” of Chicago's earlier World's Columbian Exposition. The buildings generally followed Moderne architecture in contrast to the neoclassical themes used at the 1893 fair. Kaufman & Fabry Co. were the official photographers.