cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/...

This world's fair was in the windy city, 1933 & 34. The theme was "A Century of Progress", celebrating the importance of science and technology. This was still in the Great Depression era, and everyone was desperate to find hope for a better future.

The Zephyr streamliner made a (then) record breaking "dawn to dusk" run from Denver to Chicago in 13 hours, rolling into the 1934 fair on opening day. Considerable logistics went into it, such as diverting all other rail traffic to sidings, careful pre-inspection of every spike and grade crossing, and enlisting the Boy Scouts for traffic safety at crossings. The train reached speeds of 112 mph and averaged 77 mph over the entire run.

The Homes of Tomorrow exhibit was not for flights of fancy, but instead showed homes designed to be mass produced from affordable materials. Several still exist today, although they have been moved out of the Chicago area. Here is one.