
Pictures from the 1939 New York World's Fair (2017) - userbinator
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/1939-new-york-world-fair/
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Animats
The 1939 World's Fair vision of the future, or at least the GM version,
"Futurerama", was mostly achieved by the 1960s.[1] (Skip ahead to 7:45).

The 1964 World's Fair had a similar GM exhibit, but almost none of it
happened. Undersea cities. Large space stations. Moon colonies. Moving
sidewalks.[2] No.

Shanghai 2010 was the biggest world's fair. [3]

[1]
[https://archive.org/details/ToNewHor1940](https://archive.org/details/ToNewHor1940)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-5aK0H05jk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-5aK0H05jk)
[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX_Wsh3MUpk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX_Wsh3MUpk)

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peter303
And China is far more modern than US in many respects:

\- a country wide network of high speed railroads in a country larger than the
US

\- many more EVs manufactured and in use

\- worlds largest manufacturer and consumer of solar power

\- essentially cashless socity. Smartphone usuable for every transaction

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whaddawhat
How is China larger than the US?

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avian
Not a significant difference, but China does have more land area than US:

China: 9.32 million km^2 of land

US: 9.14 million km^2 of land

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area#Countries_and_dependencies_by_area)

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sorokod
The "model city of 1960"* is not humans friendly. Looks like a parking lot for
sky scrapers.

* [https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tMmp66CqNKY/WYKgglZbyZI/AAAAAAAAN...](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tMmp66CqNKY/WYKgglZbyZI/AAAAAAAANqs/BxjyDBrMv-El9a67iGbvFrKjFWpvvnS0wCLcBGAs/s1600/1939_New_York_World_Fair%2B%252821%2529.jpg)

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Retric
That model is actually made by Ford so it’s kind of car centric. However, it
is also also more 3D than that picture makes it look like. It has plenty of
raised walkways to get around and roads below them. This picture is just
absolutely dominated by that freeway.

Here is a slightly different angle:
[https://placesjournal.org/article/indexing-the-world-of-
tomo...](https://placesjournal.org/article/indexing-the-world-of-
tomorrow-1939-worlds-fair/?cn-reloaded=1)

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sorokod
I guess you mean this: [https://placesjournal.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/mattern...](https://placesjournal.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/mattern-05-worlds-fair.jpg)

still not clear to me how one gets from one building to another without a car.

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Retric
Raised walkways, you can see lots of little dots in the model which are
supposed to be people. Here is the same design at larger scale:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama_(New_York_World%27s...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama_\(New_York_World%27s_Fair\)#/media/File%3AStreet_intersection_Futurama.jpg)

Also my bad it was GM not Ford.

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userbinator
This is the specific picture:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Street_i...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Street_intersection_Futurama.jpg)

That actually looks quite safe. Pedestrians don't have to look out for cars,
and vice-versa.

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beamatronic
It never ceases to amaze me what was accomplished in the 1930s and 1940s.

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pravda
World War II was certainty a kick to technological progress.

RADAR, the modern airplane, atomic energy, rocketry ... so much was
accomplished.

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pkamb
Where is the best place to upload historical found photos like this? I
occasionally buy and scan old slides from estate sales and would like to use a
site that makes them accessible and searchable. Is there anything better than
Flickr?

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adammunich
Loc.gov & archive.org

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pkamb
I've thought about my local University's archive, but I'd like something a bit
more DIY and accessible rather than donating images to some bureaucracy and
the images never seeing the light of day.

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michannne
I recently visited the Parthenon in Nashville and after seeing photos of the
Centennial Expedition, I always wondered what it would have been like
wandering around when it was going on. It really put into perspective how
alien other cultures would have been seen by the locals at the time, and I
feel the '39 World's Fair captures the same feeling

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cmroanirgo
> _Flanked by Boy Scouts, President Franklin D. Roosevelt opened New York’s
> $160,000,000 World’s Fair with an address in which he said America has
> “hitched her wagon to a star of good will”, on April 30, 1939. He emphasized
> the United States’ desire for placid living among the countries of the world
> and expressed hope that the future would see a breakdown of “many barriers
> of intercourse” among European nations._

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aloer
> Comm. E.B. McGovern, representing the governor

What a perfect name

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varshithr
This looks awesome. NY looks way ahead of its time. I can't believe its 1939.

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stickfigure
"The future isn't what it used to be."

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walrus01
Today, there is a well known telecom tower manufacturer named Trylon.

