Western Rural and American Stockman, January 23, 1892
The Columbian Movable Sidewalk.
The probability is that during the six months of the World’s Fair visitors at the exposition will not be compelled always to walk from one department to another, or from one end of the grounds occupied by the building to the other. Whether this is really to be so depends on the committee that was appointed to investigate the feasibility of adopting the plans of the Columbian Movable Sidewalk Company making a favorable report.
To prove to the satisfaction of the. committee that the scheme is practicable, an experimental track has been erected at the north end of the exposition grounds and this track was tested this week, a number of interested persons and representatives of the press being present. To all appearances the test was perfectly satisfactory and the working of the sidewalk elicited a great deal of praise from those present.
The experimental track is 900 feet long and elliptical in shape. It is elevated on a wooden structure twenty feet nigh, which is securely braced on all sides so that the motion of the cars is smooth and steady. A cover has been erected over the track to protect the passengers during stormy weather.
The movable sidewalk consists of a continuous row of overlapping platforms. Each platform is twelve feet long and rests on a separate car-truck. The trucks are coupled together by a short link.
The moving portion of the sidewalk will be under the control of one man in a controlling station built at one side of the track, and he will be in a position to overlook the whole of his train. Within easy reach he has a main switch, a reversing switch, and rheostats, all arranged so that they can readily be operated in case of accidents. As an extra precaution against a break-down in the machinery or an accident to anyone on the train of cars, a system of electrical signals has been arranged, push buttons being placed about sixty feet apart. These are connected by means of concealed wires with an electric bell and an automatic circuit breaker in the controlling station, by means of which the train can be instantly stopped by any one pressing the button.
It is estimated that at least 40,000 passengers can be handled every hour with the greatest comfort and safety. The fact that the sidewalk has a continuous motion is an important feature in comparing its speed of transporting passengers with that of the ordinary methods.
On account of the action of the authorities of the World’s Fair in closing the grounds against visitors without passes, the com• pany have decided to use the elevated sidewalk as a point from which the thousands of visitors that daily go to Jackson Park can view the work on the building as it progresses, by paying a small admission fee.
The patents which have been granted to Mr. Max E. Schmidt and Joseph. L. Silsbee on the movable sidewalk, are owned and controlled by the Multiple Speed and Traction Company, of Chicago. Among the many places where the company claims that this system is applicable to the task of transporting large numbers of passengers from one point to another are the Brooklyn bridge and Broadway, New York. At present they are working on plans for furnishing a movable sidewalk of the above deacription for a tunnel 2,500 feet long in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.-Electricity.
Chicago Tribune, September 1, 1892
Sept. 5—Labor day. It was decided to comply with the request as far as possible.
On the recommendation of the Ways and Means committee permission was granted to the Multiple Speed and Traction company to install their moving sidewalk upon the long Pier at the park. The company is to pay the Exposition $25,000 as its portion of the cost of the pier, payment to be made as construction advances. It is also to pay 33½ per cent of gross receipts from all sources and agrees that the fare on the walk shall be rive cents unless changed by mutual consent.
A concession granting the World’s Fair Tower company right to erect a spiral tower upon the western end of Midway Plaisance approved. The contract provides that the company shall pay to the Fair one-third ff the gross receipts. The company shall bear the entire expense of installation and operation and deposit with the Exposition $10,000 and also furnish a $50,000 bond for the faithful performance of the contract.
Picturesque World’s Fair, An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views—Published with the Endorsement and Approval of George R. Davis, 1894
THE MOVABLE SIDEWALK—The beauties of Lake Michigan and the charm of Chicago’s almost continuous northeastern breeze, which with its invigorating qualities, has probably done as much to make Chicago what it is as any other accidental natural advantage, were made evident during the World’s Fair to as great host of people. There were days when it was uncomfortable upon the broad thoroughfares of the Exposition grounds. There were days when the masses gathered there longed for a breath of fresh air with no dust in it and a shade above them. Their longing was gratified. They knew the way and followed it. They passed in throngs through the broad arch of the Peristyle and went out upon a great dock opening upon the lake, and there was a great tongue of a pier reaching far out into the blue waters. Along this tongue on one side and coming back on the other ran a commonplace railroad track with cars above it—though the cars were but a continuous string of ordinary seats and an extended shed above them—and they found that they could sit down and ride away out into the lake and back again and get rested, cooled and refreshed by the easy seat and the stiff breeze from the northeast. This was a daily experience. This was one of the incidental and almost accidental features of the Fair, yet mightily potent in its effect upon the comforts of the masses. The Movable Sidewalk was but a speculation, an accident, but with its track reaching out over the surface of the great lake it acquired an importance and popularity, and a proper niche in the World’s Fair history.
MUSIC HALL, THE PERISTYLE AND THE MOVABLE SIDEWALK Sidewalk.—First to disappear totally from among the grander features of the Columbian Exposition were the Casino and Music Hall, the famous Peristyle and a portion of the Movable Sidewalk, destroyed by fire on the evening and night of January 8, 1894. The view given above shows all save the Casino, with which the Peristyle connected on the south. Music Hall, in which were given concerts conducted by the most famous leaders and attended by hundreds of thousands of music lovers, appears in the foreground; its style of architecture, as will be seen, in harmony with and supplementing that of the Peristyle. Its interior, especially the grand concert room, was beautiful finished and decorated. The general effect of the Peristyle, as viewed from the Manufactures Building, is well shown in the picture, the columns, the triumphal arch, the promenade and the surmounting heroic figures all appearing, though at such a distance that detail is necessarily sacrificed. Beyond is the pier, extending out nearly walk the endless half a mile into Lake Michigan, where were landed passengers who came to the Fair by boat. Out upon this pier ran the Movable Sidewalk. Under the long shed appearing on the walk the endless platform moved continuously, and here the tired visitor, seated in full enjoyment of the cool lake breeze, could, for five cents, ride as long as desired. The great fire which destroyed the Peristyle and connecting buildings encroached upon the pier as well, but the structure was finally saved.
- Moving Sidewalk
The first moving walkway debuted at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, Illinois. It had two different divisions: one where passengers were seated, and one where riders could stand or walk. It ran in a loop down the length of a lakefront pier to a casino.
- Moving Sidewalk
Chicago Columbian Exposition, 1893.
- A Rear View of the Moving Sidewalk
Harley Dewitt Nichols
- Moving Sidewalk and Pier
This still, absolutely blows my mind. What a remarkable invention for the time.