The Opening of the World FairOn April 30, 1939, the second-largest American world fair opened up in New York, in what is now known as flushing-meadows Corona Park (The World of Tomorrow). It opened on the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington in NYC. Its main vision differed from the rest of the world fairs, and it focused on the phrase and presented visions of “The World of Tomorrow.” It had the opening slogan of “Dawn of the day (The World of Tomorrow). It aimed to represent ideas of a futuristic, advanced world.
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Execution of the World FairThe 1939 World fair was planned and executed throughout the peak of the Great Depression and the start of the Second World War, so the main purpose of it was to drag the country out of the depression using technological advancements that were showcased in the fair. The 1939 World Fair took up 1216 acres in a place called Queens, and it was built on what used to be an ash dump (Van Dort). The first day had over 206,000 visitors, and President Roosevelt gave an opening speech. Civic groups, government agencies, corporations, and smaller organizations came from all around the world to set up their exhibitions and build their pavilions (Taylor). Over 44 million people attended the 1939 world fair to enjoy the countless events, rides show, and exhibits that all reflected an encompassed vision of the future (Taylor).
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The World Fair's SuccessThe World Fair was a great chance for big technology companies like General Motors and Westinghouse to show their newest advancement, and foreign governments to display sightings of their art and culture (Van Dort). The main attraction of the 1939 World Fair was the Trylon and Perisphere structures, and they reflected a “dystopian city of the future” in a form of a diorama, called “Democracity” (Taylor). Some of the most famous World Fair attractions were The Time Capsule, Elektro, and Futurama. (Blakinger) The Time Capsule was produced by the Westinghouse Electric Company. It was buried under the park, set to supposedly open after 5000 years. (Blakinger) Inside the capsule are 75 types of metals and fabrics, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a dollar in change, microfilm, issues of LIFE, and a seed bank. Elektro was a 7-foot long robot that was also designed by the Westinghouse Electric Company. (Blakinger) It contained a vocabulary range of about 700 words, which was relatively impressive back for a robot in 1939. It was built in 1937, and one of its famous insults was: "My brain is bigger than yours." Futurama was a huge exhibit that showcased a panoramic vision of a futuristic city, that was set in 1960: "The Future." (Blakinger) It was about 35,738-square-feet in size, and visitors would ride onboard 2 seat cars, that would follow the path of moving track. This exhibit embarked about 27,000 visitors daily on a 15-minute ride, leaving them saying: "I have seen the future." (Blakinger)
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The following video shows Elektro, a robot that considered a major attraction at the 1939 NY World Fair.
Bibliography
Taylor, Alan. “The 1939 New York World's Fair.” The Atlantic, 1 November 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/11/the-1939-new-york-worlds-fair/100620/. Accessed 14 March 2021.
Van Dort, Paul M. “1939 New York's World Fair.” Perisphere Ponderings, https://www.1939nyworldsfair.com/. Accessed 14 March 2021.
“The World of Tomorrow: The 1939 New York World’s Fair.” National Archives, 30 April 2014, https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2014/04/30/the-world-of-tomorrow-the-1939-new-york-worlds-fair/. Accessed 14 March 2021.
Blakinger, K. (2016, April 30). A look back at some of the coolest attractions at the 1939 World's Fair . nydailynews.com. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/back-attractions-1939-world-fair-article-1.2619155. Accessed 25 April 2021.
Van Dort, Paul M. “1939 New York's World Fair.” Perisphere Ponderings, https://www.1939nyworldsfair.com/. Accessed 14 March 2021.
“The World of Tomorrow: The 1939 New York World’s Fair.” National Archives, 30 April 2014, https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2014/04/30/the-world-of-tomorrow-the-1939-new-york-worlds-fair/. Accessed 14 March 2021.
Blakinger, K. (2016, April 30). A look back at some of the coolest attractions at the 1939 World's Fair . nydailynews.com. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/back-attractions-1939-world-fair-article-1.2619155. Accessed 25 April 2021.