Oct 2, 2009 12:45 pm US/Central
Fizzled Dreams: The 1992 Chicago World's Fair
Mayor Jane Byrne Said Fair Would Have Brought Rebirth, But Questions About Costs Killed It
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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A 3-D image of what Northerly Island would have looked like in the summer of 1992, had the city's plan for a World's Fair that year succeeded.
CBS
In 1992, the headlines in Chicago seemed to tend toward the grim.
A massive flood shut down the entire Loop. Chicago area college student
Tammy Zywicki was carjacked and brutally murdered as she drove back to school in Iowa. Seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed by sniper fire as he walked to school through the Cabrini-Green public housing development. The crime rate was skyrocketing, with 943 people murdered in the city – the second worst total in history.
Michael Jordan and the Bulls' second NBA World Championship victory brought some excitement to the city, but even that was plagued by riots and looting that led to more than 1,000 arrests.
But things might have been much different in 1992, had a grand plan for Chicago to host its third World's Fair worked out.
Ten years earlier, then-Mayor Jane Byrne had the city excited and abuzz about the planned fair. But questions about funding killed the project, even after the Bureau of International Expositions had accepted the bid.
'A Decade Of Rebirth'
In the late 1970s, Chicago architect Harry Weese first suggested that Chicago should host a 1992 World's Fair to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing. In 1981, the plan began to take shape for real, when the Chicago World's Fair-1992 Authority was formed with Commonwealth Edison Chief Executive Officer Thomas G. Ayers as its president.
The plans solidified throughout the year in 1982. It would take place on new manmade islands along the lakefront between Balbo Drive and 31st Street. There would be amusement park rides, live entertainment, a water park with a Great Lakes theme, and other delights. The nations of the world would set up a vast number of exhibits showcasing industry and innovation, all for an admission charge of $11.
Meigs Field was to be closed for the exposition to free up Northerly Island. In addition, about 200 acres of landfill were to be created in Lake Michigan for the new manmade islands.
Further, numerous other public works improvements were planned – the CTA line to Midway Airport that later became the Orange Line, a widening of the Dan Ryan Expressway, expansion of Midway and O'Hare airports to cover for the closing of Meigs.
Altogether, the cost of the plan was estimated at $700 million. But Mayor Jane Byrne was ecstatic about the plan.
"The 1992 Fair will trigger a regeneration, a decade of rebirth, for which we have already established a solid financial base," Byrne said in June 1982. "Investment in Chicago is good business, and the Fair will launch a program of public and private improvements unmatched by any city, even in periods of the most vigorous urban development."
The 1992 exposition was to be the third world's fair in Chicago, and the first two were already the stuff of legend. The 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition, also held on Northerly Island and in Burnham Park, highlighted technological innovation and futurism in the depths of the Great Depression. Before that, the 1893 World's Fair turned a swampy Jackson Park into the glistening Greco-Roman White City, and introduced the world's first Ferris wheel.
In December 1982, it looked as if the plan to continue Chicago's World's Fair tradition was a done deal. The Bureau of International Expositions accepted the city's bid for the fair on Dec. 8. Plans were made to hold simultaneous World's Fairs in Chicago and Seville, Spain, to honor Columbus' voyage.
The fair was set to run from May to October 1992. It was expected to attract 55 million visitors, and bring $750 million to Chicago, and bring 30,000 new jobs immediately.
"It is a great day for the city… a chance for all citizens to showcase the city to the world," Ayers said on Dec. 8, 1982. "The fair will have a great impact on the economic development of the city."
The Best Laid Plans…
But the dreams of a new World's Fair in Chicago turned out to be short-lived, and were cast to the dustbin long before 1992 was even close to coming around.
Byrne lost the 1983 Democratic mayoral primary to Harold Washington, who went on to take her place as mayor. Unlike Byrne, Washington was less than enthusiastic about the planned World's Fair, and he questioned the amount of public money that would be required for it.
Meanwhile, Chicagoans grew more and more hostile to the idea of the World's Fair. Concerns mounted about whether taxpayers would end up on the hook for cost overruns, as well as the environmental impact, and the effect on nearby residential neighborhoods.
Over time, the estimated cost of the fair kept rising and rising. By June 1984, the cost was expected to be $800 million, at least.
Originally, the people promoting the fair said it would pay for itself. By 1984, they were still saying that, but just for planning the fair in 1985, state lawmakers asked for tax hikes. They called for a 1 percent hike in the state restaurant tax, as well as the hotel-motel tax.
And at the time, other recent World's Fairs had not been paying for themselves.
The estimated cost of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition was $150 million before it opened, but the actual cost was 15 percent more. They also expected 75,000 visits a day, but the actual visits were 40 percent less. Taxpayers ended up stuck with some of the more than $100 million in unpaid bills after the fair was over.
Earlier, the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tenn., left behind bills that forced one of the biggest property tax increases in the city.
Still, the organizers of the 1992 World's Fair said it would be bigger and better, and that its benefits would outweigh its costs. But ultimately, state lawmakers began to think twice about the claims.
By June 1985, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan said attendance estimates were too high, and cost estimates were too low. He also said the World's Fair concept itself was obsolescent.
Meanwhile, Chicago's politicians and business leaders were divided, and public support was excruciatingly low. Madigan also believed other events would compete in 1992, including national political conventions and the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona.
So Madigan pulled the plug.
"My estimation of the chances for a fair in Chicago in 1992 are nil," he said.
When 1992 finally came around, the second World's Fair in Seville, called Expo '92, went on as planned. It attracted some 42 million visitors. Meanwhile, Chicagoans attention was indeed captivated by the Barcelona Olympics, particularly the U.S. basketball Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and 10 other stars of the NBA.
The World's Fair is long dead and buried. But its echoes were felt in October 2009, when Chicago again fell short in a chance to showcase the city for all the world to see.
After a three-year effort that cost $48 million in private funding, the International Olympic Committee eliminated Chicago from contention for hosting the
2016 Summer Olympic Games in the first round of voting. Rio de Janeiro later won the bid.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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