Commemoration of ‘Century of Progress’ urged for Northerly Island 

By Sheila Elliott

May 27 may have come and gone without much attention from the average Chicagoan, but not for those knowledgeable in local history. On that date 75 years ago, one of Chicago’s legendary dreamlands, the world’s fair known as A Century of Progress International Exposition, opened on Northerly Island.

There on the shores of Lake Michigan, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, Chicago created a visionary  world showcasing the promise of new technology in a setting filled with vivid colors, sleek buildings, quaint villages, and—most important—the promise of a bright, new future. By some estimates, as many as 22 million visitors wandered the meandering streets of the fairgrounds in the months that followed, finding an escape from the brutal economic realities of 1933 and ’34 and a window into a brighter world that might lie ahead.

Today, Northerly Island holds a small music stadium adjacent to bucolic, open space, making it a favorite for music lovers, birdwatchers, and hikers. Nary a trace can be found of the frantic, futuristic exposition that once held court there–something Rick Rann would like to change.

A law enforcement officer by profession, Rann is an amateur historian working to reverse what he sees as a serious historical omission: Northerly Island’s spacious grounds offer nothing to commemorate the Century of Progress, which ranks as one of the largest, most successful municipally sponsored celebrations in modern times.

“Hardly anyone [in Chicago] was not affected by the fair,” and for a core group of people it remains one of the seminal events in their lives, Rann said. Construction worker, concession worker, entertainer, fair-goer:  the list of ways to get involved in the fair was lengthy, “and there was a lot of camaraderie, especially among those lucky enough to get a job at the fair itself.”

Rann believes a plaque, statue, or small museum would help preserve the memory of an event important to literally millions of people and go a long way in explaining its significance to later generations.

Rann speaks with a rare sense of authority about A Century of Progress because he has invested considerable energy in learning its history. He was drawn in by his interest in Art Deco, an art and architecture style popular in the 1930s and used frequently in the fairgrounds’ pavilions and other buildings.

He began collecting memorabilia from the fair 14 years ago and met others who shared his interest. Recognizing the fair’s popularity, he organized a collectors’ show that still takes place annually and allows collectors to add to or showcase their treasures, enjoy screenings of rare films, and attend lectures. At those shows, Rann began to piece together the fair’s human face and understand how such an event could come to hold a rare and intense fascination—especially for young people—during those bleak years of the 1930s.

Some mementos of the fair are displayed in museums, but other than the memorabilia and souvenirs collected, traded, and bartered among fair aficionados, the general public has few opportunities to learn more about an event still regarded as one of the country’s most successful public celebrations. The sole exception is a marble column constructed north of the old fair grounds in Grant Park to commemorate aviator Italo Balbo’s arrival at the fair.

In the absence of tangible evidence, accounts of the fair can expand modern people’s understanding of the event.  The Encyclopedia of Chicago notes the rare opportunity it presented for physicians and scientists to win the public’s trust, especially after the devastation of chemical warfare in World War I. Other professions enjoyed opportunities to showcase their benefits, and the fair’s underlying theme of cooperation among business, science, and government pervaded the pavilions as the overall atmosphere encouraged and applauded consumerism.

Yet the fair did not escape many of the biases of the day. It gave minimal attention to contributions by minority groups, and African Americans faced employment discrimination and were denied service in some of the fair’s restaurants. Boycotts followed, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People succeeded in having those practices prohibited when fair organizers sought authorization to extend the fair in 1934. Sadly, women, who had figured so prominently in Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair, took almost no part in A Century of Progress. They played no significant role in the fair’s organization, there was no Women’s Building, and their contributions to the nation’s progress were virtually ignored.

Rann has taken his campaign to the Internet. At www.petition.com he summarizes, in three paragraphs, the Fair’s history and its significance, especially as a social event. “The point,” he writes, is “to commemorate this bright moment in Chicago’s history at the park at Northerly Island.”