One of the great events in the memories of baby boomers and their parents living in the metro New York area, the New York World's Fair opened to the public on April 22, 1964.
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| The Unisphere |
The Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library is proud to share some of the photos in our collection, taken the late Max Hubacher, a local resident, during his many visits to the Fair.
The Unisphere, the most recognizable symbol of the Fair, was presented to the Fair by U.S. Steel in 1964. Standing 140 feet tall, it was the World's Fair's most popular meeting place and is the centerpiece of the modern Flushing Meadow Corona Park in Queens.
For
an adult admission of $2.00 ($2.50 in the 1965 season), and a children's
admission of $1.00, visitors could spend the entire day in the world of
the future. In 1964 color TV was in its infancy, computers were limited to
large businesses, where they occupied entire rooms with less computing power than an average laptop. The Fair gave visitors a glimpse of a future that was right around the corner, a world united by technology and trade -- and a universal love of strawberry-topped Belgian waffles!
New York mayor Robert F. Wagner and a team led by master builder
Robert Moses, chose Flushing Meadows Park, the site of the 1939 World's
Fair, as the location for the exposition. Many years before the Fairs, this reclaimed garbage dump
had been referred to as "the city of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925). It was transformed into a pristine and usable public space, close to transportation hubs and New York City's many attractions.
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| The New York State Pavilion |
At the height of the Cold War, the theme "Peace Through Understanding" resonated with the public as America took on the challenges of the nuclear arms race, the Vietnam War and the future of space exploration. Thirty-six foreign nations and twenty-one states sponsored
pavilions -- among the most celebrated were the the Vatican Pavilion, where
Michelangelo's Pieta was displayed, the New York State Pavilion (above) with its rotating towers, and the Swiss Sky Ride (below).
In the part of the fairgrounds closest to the Van
Wyck Expressway, more than 45 pavilions surrounded a pool around which was
held a nightly fireworks show. With pavilions from Ford, DuPont and General Electric
Pavilion’s Progressland, the Industrial area was a
showcase for corporate America. The Kodak Pavilion’s roof was designed like the surface of the moon,
and Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen’s egg-shaped
IBM Pavilion, where visitors sitting on grandstands were lifted swiftly
into a theater. At the Bell System exhibit,
visitors previewed touch-tone phone technology that was soon to replace the rotary dial.
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| Lake Amusement Area |
Walt Disney Studios introduced "audio-animatronics," their new robotics technology, in the form of the Illinois Pavilion's Abraham Lincoln, the General Electric "Carousel of Progress," which showed the progress of the American family through the technology of the Twentieth Century and the Pepsi-Cola Pavilion’s
Unicef-Disney production of “It’s a Small World,” featuring animatronic dolls in their national costumes and a theme song, sung in several languages, destined to be lodged in the memories of all who attended.
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| The United States Pavilion |
While it never became a financial success, over 51 million people visited the Fair over its two seasons. And for this visitor, who first saw the spectacle as a wide-eyed twelve-year-old, the memories of the exhibits, the rides, the pageantry and the belief that all things might be possible are recollections almost as sweet as those waffles!
More Information:
- Charles McGrath. "The Fair to End All Fairs." The New York Times, April 18, 2014.
- Liz Robbins. "Recalling a Vision of the Future, The New York Times, April 18, 2014
- Axel Gerdau. "Think Back: the 1964 World's Fair." The New York Times, April 18, 2014.
- NYC's World's Fair turns 50." Newsday, April 19, 2014.
- 1964 World's Fair Tech predictions had some hits, misses (cbsnews.com)
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