Chicago Tribune, January 29, 1933
- This map, prepared by the Chicago Motor club, shows the general scheme for handling out of town motorists attending the world’s fair. To avoid confusion with state and federal markers, the main routes will be identified with symbols such as an airplane for the “Aero route” coming in from Aurora; a plowman for “Agricultural route” over Joliet road. A clown will blaze the Governor’s highway from Kankakee. A band of information booths will encircle the city. Closer in is a belt for tourist camps, and within the city is an area for park ing, as indicated on the map.
Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1933
Transportation problems of A Century of Progress Exposition are being worked out on the basis of a projected Z50,000 visitors a day. with provision for a capacity of 1,500,000 visitors on peak days. Preparation also will be made to handle an additional 25,000 private automobiles daily in Chicago traffic lanes. The plans call for the direction of traffic within a radius of 75 miles of Chicago, information booths. parking in outer zones and at the gates of the Fair, tourist camps, and intra-exposition transportation of various kinds.
Within two weeks, it was stated yesterday, work will be started on stir-face car approach over the Illinois Central tracks at 2:11 street. and completion of the job is promised in time for the opening of the Exposition. Yesterday steam shovels began digging for the foundation of the first chain of turnstile stations for the tractor-trailer buses which will carry visitors from one end ot the grounds to the other on high speed lanes, stopping at ten stations. The main station will be opposite the Administration building at the north entrance.
Buses to Carry Visitors.
Visitors may take buses at any of these ten stations. scattered at points of interest between the north gate and the travel and transport group. If they wish to do this two and three quarter miles in more leisurely fashion they may walk or hire a push chair. The buses also will go over to Northerly island, but will move slowly with the pedestrian traffic there. There will be gondolas, small boats and barges for a water trip across the lagoon. Thousands of chairs will be scattered red around the grounds for free use. There will be 900 wheel chairs in charge of college students. Sixty long buses will operate on the high speed lanes. Trucks will be kept out except at stated hours for delivery.
Family groups driving to the Exposition in their own cars will disembark at the Crank park vehicular terminal in front of Field museum There will be no parking here. but there will be room for 10.000 cars in a parking space to be placed near the Illinois Central tracks, to be reached by ramps and bridges from the Inner drive. This will extend from 16th to 26th street and will be about two blocks wide. From here entrance to the Fair will be at 18th street.
Developing Parking System.
“Visitors will be encouraged to park on the outer fringes of the city.” said Maj. E. S. J. Irvine, chief of the transportation division of the exposition.. “but they may come closer to the Fair with their cars If they wish. We will be able to take care of them.”
We are developing a system which will work to the comfort and convenience of all visitors, both inside and outside the grounds. The fourteen major highways leading into Chicago will be marked and within the fifteen to 20 mile zone on each route traffic. Information booths will be set up. Here any person may get information as to tourist camps, hotels, rooming houses, the location of relatives, parking space, etc. The contracts are now being made for eleven of the booths. The outlook now is for 6,000 to 8,000 tourist cabins of one room or more each, attractively furnished. Each community, such as Oak Park. Kenwood. and Evanston, will have its local committee, which will take care of the outlying hotels and rooming houses, parking, etc. There will be six new bus routes from the loop. the north and south sides, going directly to the Fair. They will carry 18,000 persons an hour to the north entrance.
“Transportation systems serving the Exposition grounds have a far greater passenger capacity than those serving any previous major exposition. Approximately 1,000,000 a day enter the Chicago loop district. The transportation systems to this district handled, it is estimated, more than 1,000,000 people in one evening at the State street Mardi Gras in 1931. More than 1,000,000 people can be handled with more expedition than the three-quarters of a million visitors at Chicago ty at the Exposition in 1893.”
Reduced Rates on Railroads.
The traffic control committee. of which Sidney IL Gorham is chairman, has worked in coiirdinating all systems and organizations Into the transportation plan.
The group has obtained reduced rates on the railroads, laid out street routes to carry traffic to the parking zones, located the parking areas, published a special map of roads, and planned the highways and the information booths. “Engineers and operating staffs of the elevated lines, the surface lines, Illinois Central and other suburban railroads have made plans for handling traffic to the Exposition over fixed lines of transportation,” said Mr. Gorham. A contract has been entered into for air taxi twrvice between the airport and a landing ramp on the Ex posit ion grounds. ”
The Central and Western Passenger associations have granted reduced rates for long distance traffic to the Exposition. The transportation systems leading to A Century of Progress have a greater capacity than those of any previous exposition.”
The estimate of the number of visitors to the Fair is based on studies of other expositions. where it is shown that 10 per cent of the metropolitan area of each exposition enters the gates. This exposition will show Just what Chicago’s metropolitan area is.
The Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad officials yesterday decided to name their crack Chicago-St. Louis da3light train “Century of Progress.” This railroad was opened during the St. Louis World’s Fair.
Chicago Herald, July 7, 1933
Information Booth, For World’s Fair is Set Up in Heights
An official World’s Fair information booth has just been put into service in the parkway at the Northwest highway and Evergreen street in Arlington Heights.
Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1933
Information Booths,
approved by A Century of Progress Exposition are now operating on each of the 13 major highways leading into Chicago. The booths are blue on each side and white in front and back. On the blue sides is the legend “Information Booth Approved by A Century of Progress, Chicago, 1933.” Only the booths so designated are officially sanctioned by the Fair. An envelope containing general information about the Fair, including traffic regulations in Chicago, is given to each motorist making an inquiry at these booths.
Chicago Tribune, August 27, 1933
BUILD FAIR BOOTH OVER MIDDLE OF FOX RIVER BRIDGE
One of the most attractive A Century of Progress information booths set up in the metropolitan area is that of the St, Charles Chamber of Commerce, erected on a balcony in the middle of the Fox River bridge, on route 64.
The structure, especially built for the summer, is modernistic in design and color, and its west window affords a good view of the picturesque river valley. R. K. Munn, secretary of the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce, is in charge of the quarters, with Leroy Anderson as assistant.
Special parking space on the bridge has been marked out for passing motorists who may desire World’s Fair information.
The majority of visitors at the booth appear to be strangers to the Chicago environment. They have expressed themselves as charmed with the St. Charles setting, and their view of the valley which the author, Emerson Hough, declared the most beautiful he had ever seen.
Among the maps and other information on the walls of the booth is a Fox river valley scene drawn by Louis 7. Thomnson, loçal agtist.
Official Guide, Book of the Fair Chicago
Information About Transportation
Twenty-five of the thirty-three trunk lines terminating in Chicago operate passenger trains, and approximately 1,500 arrive daily. If you are one of 60,000,000 people who live within, what is called, Chicago territory, you may leave your home any day, enjoy a delightful dinner on the train, a good night’s rest, and begin your enjoyment of A Century of Progress twelve hours after leaving your home. Chicago is the largest railroad center in the world, and 100,000,000 people live within 24 hours’ train ride from it.
You will arrive in Chicago at one of six downtown stations, all within easy reach of the Exposition grounds. The railroads of the nation are cooperating with fast and frequent service, and with special rates, to make it easier for you to attend A Century of Progress, and to bring your families.
The rate reductions granted by the railroads depend upon the time limit of the tickets, whether going and return routes are the same, whether stopovers are desired, whether tickets are for individuals or for groups. The charge for round trip tickets ranges from one and one-half of the one-way fare down to less than one-third of the regular fare for groups of 100 adult passengers traveling in coaches with a time limit of three days.
Every railroad ticket office in the United States is an information bureau. Local ticket agents will give information about travel accom-modations, and about the A Century of Progress.
By Bus and by Air
Bus routes from every section of the United States bring frequent service into Chicago, and a Bus Union Station is on Roosevelt road near Wabash avenue, less than a half mile from the Exposition grounds, with branch depots in various sections of the city. Air service is frequent, Chicago being one of the great aviation centers of the country, and air lines have added to their equipment to give fast service.
Passengers arriving at the Municipal Airport can immediately board amphibian planes and be brought to the Pal-Waukee Airport in the Exposition grounds at Thirty-first street, or be taken by bus or cab to hotels, or downtown points.
By Steamer
Steamers will bring visitors from the principal cities of the Great Lakes, landing at Navy Pier in Chicago. Smaller steamers and motor boats will then bring these visitors to the Exposition.
For Those Who Come by Auto
Fourteen of the main arteries of traffic leading into Chicago are marked, for distances of from 75 to 100 miles, with colorful markers, round in shape, for the guidance of visitors. These highways have been given appropriate World’s Fair names, and the signs carry symbols indicative of these names, i. e., Electrical route, regular Nos. 15 and 42 running down through Milwaukee, along Lake Michigan, has the familiar clenched fist closed over lightning flashes; Marine route, regular No. 12, running along the lake, through St. Joseph, Michigan, the naval anchor; Automotive route, regular No. 20 through South Bend, In-diana, the wheel of an auto; International route, regular No. 6 through Walkerton, Indiana, a globe; Science route, regular No. 30 through Valparaiso, Indiana, the Adler Planetarium; Industrial route, regular No. 41 through Kentland, Indiana, a gear; Midway route, regular No. 49, through Kankakee, Illinois, a clown; Agricultural route, regular No. 66 through Dwight, Illinois, and crossing Communication route, regular No. 7 through Ottawa, Illinois, at Joliet, Illinois, a man following a plow. The Communication route carries the symbol of two telephone poles strung with wires; Aero route, regular No. 32, through Leland, Illinois, a plane in flight; Illumination route, regular No. 30 through Rochelle, Illinois, the rising sun.
These markers appear at intervals of from one-tenth to a quarter of a mile. As you come close to Chicago, detour markers appear, indicating the way to different sections of the city.
On the right side of the road handsome information booths appear, with courteous attendants to give information about directions, about hotel accommodations, rooms in private homes or tourists’ camps. These are official information booths, plainly marked with the A Century of Progress signs.
Should you be seeking the way to friends or relatives in Chicago, the information clerks will give you minute directions and furnish you with a comprehensive road map.
Further, if you desire, they will direct you to a telegraph station in the district in which the address is, and a messenger boy will take you to your destination for a small fee. Or, if you wish to know about a hotel or apartment or rooms in private homes, the clerk will give you complete information and direct you how to get there or to a telegraph district office, from whence a messenger boy will take you.
Hotel and Room Accommodations
Chicago has an amplitude of housing accommodations, it being estimated that from one-half to three-quarters of a million people can be comfortably cared for daily throughout the life of the Fair. This includes hotels, rooming houses, apartments and rooms in private homes.
The prices for hotel service in first-class hotels range from $1.50 to $5 per person a day. The average price for first-class accommodations in the leading hotels is $3 a day. Meals in most hotels are 50 cents to $1; meals are served in many places on the grounds; sandwiches and drinks can be bought on the grounds for 10 and 15 cents.
Comfortable, clean rooms in rooming houses and in private homes can be procured for as little as $1 a day, or less for long stays.
About 20,000 apartments, of from two to five rooms each, are available, making it possible for families, or groups, to take a modern apartment, by the week or month, with the cost per person as little as $1 a day, or even less, depending on length of stay.
Information Agencies
Persons desiring information about hotel reservations, prices, etc.. before coming to Chicago, can write the following:
- William J. Hennessey, Chicago Association of Commerce.
Miss Nan F. Dean, Jackson Park Hotel Association, 1642 East 56th street (South Side).
R. L. Vanderslice, North Shore Hotel Association, 520 North Michigan avenue (North Side).
J. K. Blatchford, Chicago Hotel Association, 58 East Congress street
(Loop and Downtown District).
There are four housing bureaus which have been approved by A Century of Progress for the convenience of persons not desiring hotel accommodations. They are:
Visitors’ Tourist Service, Inc., Room 1314, 608 South Dearborn street. Telephone, Harrison 5524.
World’s Fair Room Listing Bureau, 180 North Michigan avenue.
Telephone, Franklin 4080.
National Tourist Service, 310 South Michigan avenue. Telephone,
Harrison 1255.
Chicago Herald & Examiner Renting Service, Hearst Square. Tele-phone, Randolph 2121.
The Visitors’ Tourist Service for a fee makes reservations, and provides club rooms in the business district, and free parking space for visitors.
The World’s Fair Room Listing Bureau maintains a free information booth in the grounds, in the Sears Roebuck building, at the right of the Avenue of Flags, near the North Entrance, as well as the one in its headquarters uptown, at 180 North Michigan avenue.
The National Tourist Service at 310 South Michigan avenue is operating official tourist information booths located in the outskirts of the city on the World’s Fair highways. Every booth will be supplied with a current list of rooms; and, if the visitor desires, he can secure the aid of a Western Union messenger in locating the addresses supplied him.
The Chicago Herald & Examiner Renting Service will publish a weekly renting guide. This guide will be available to Chicago visitors at railway and bus stations, hotels and at over 500 Sinclair filling stations in and around Chicago.
Motor Village Tourist Camps
Seven large motor villages, or auto tourist camps have been approved by A Century of Progress for the convenience of visitors who desire to enjoy this method of living while attending the Fair. The motor villages are located at strategic entrances of main highways into Chicago, north, west, and south, and near high speed electric transportation to the grounds, so that residents may leave their cars, and avoid congestion of traffic to reach the Exposition.
These camps have full police and fire protection, and are under regular inspection for health and sanitation by the State Department of Health, with registered nurses and medical care always available. They are equipped with electric lights, baths and showers, bell boy, porter and maid service, nurseries and playgrounds for children, who may be left with trained attendants, writing rooms, mail service, lounges, rest rooms, public telephones, drug stores, restaurants and candy shops.
In general, rates for tourist cabin accommodations are $1.00 or $1.25 per person per night, with cheaper rates for groups and for longer periods of stay. In addition to cabins, officially approved tourist camps also have available areas suitable for tenting at an approximate cost of 50¢ per night.
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