Charlotte Marsh of St. Charles and her two grandsons elected to visit the St. Charles History Museum to learn more about the city’s connection with the World’s Fair held in Chicago in the 1930s.
“I knew this exhibit was coming and frankly I’m amazed. I didn’t know (St. Charles) had so many different areas of the World’s Fair that the city seemed to be involved in,” Marsh said. “It’s kind of neat to know St. Charles had more an influence than people realized.”
The World’s Fair held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934 and billed as the Century of Progress International Exposition is the focus of the new exhibit at the St. Charles History Museum at 215 E. Main St. where organizers are highlighting the city’s “significant role in this historic event.”
The new exhibit – which will run through the end of this year – is called (Almost) Another Century of Progress.
According to a press release, the exhibit “showcases the technological advancements displayed at the fair such as the House of Tomorrow, which featured futuristic amenities like the automatic dishwasher and electric garage doors. The exhibit also highlights the fair’s motto, ‘Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms,’ which emphasized the collective progress of the United States … and also delves into the contributions of St. Charles to the fair, including the participation of local businesses and residents.”
Steve Gibson, president of the museum’s board of directors, said so far the reaction to the exhibit “has been good.”
“People are surprised to see the linkage between St. Charles and Chicago and the history of the Chicago World’s Fair, as Chicago kind of outshines anybody in the suburbs until you see an exhibit like this,” he said.
Those surprise discoveries, Gibson said, included St. Charles “having a pretty high investment era in the 1920s because of a couple of people in town who inherited a lot of money including Col. Edward Baker.”
“His niece Dellora Angel, who later became Dellora Norris – Delnor Hospital was named after her – they inherited $40 million in 1915 which is like a quarter of a billion dollars now and they were both living in St. Charles,” Gibson said. “When the 1920s hit they built hotels and theaters … by 1933, Col. Baker was marketing his hotel as one of the finest outside Chicago. He said that all roads to the Chicago World’s Fair lead through St. Charles and people should follow the ‘Illumination Highway’ – or Route 64 – and stop at his hotel and spend the night.”
Another contribution came from the St. Charles American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps, which Gibson said “played during colors every day at the posting of the flag and also entertained at almost every one of the exhibits that was at the World’s Fair.”
“It was kind of like them being the house band for the 1933 World’s Fair, so there was a pretty interesting linkage there too,” he said.
Work on the exhibit took about six months and included culling artifacts from locals as well as sharing with other museums.
“Once we started to discover that linkage we didn’t want to let that slip, and we started doing more digging and actually secured some other pieces from people and collectors which really makes your timeline for an exhibit like this and not just getting the information,” Gibson said. “You need the artifacts to support that.
“Our collections manager Eric Krupa, his grandfather and father both have a large-size collection from the World’s Fair,” he said. “But to be honest almost everyone who has a decent-sized family here in Chicago over the last hundred years they’ve got stuff from the Chicago World’s Fair. It isn’t hard once you’ve made a couple of phone calls.”
Marsh and her twin grandsons, Cooper and Dayton Guvenoz of St. Charles, 13, checked out a display case at the exhibit recently that contained some spoons dating back to the era.
She said that both of the boys’ great-grandmothers went to the fair themselves, noting that one of the same spoons is now owned by her sister.
Dayton said he “wasn’t a history guy” but that he was interested in the exhibit.
“It’s really interesting. All of this stuff and there were all these inventions,” he said.
Melanie Addie of Geneva stopped by the exhibit as well and said she was unaware of St. Charles’ influence on the fair.
“I was in the area and was going to another tour, and I saw this was nearby and stopped to see it,” she said. “I am surprised about the influence St Charles had and that was one of the reasons I wanted to come here because I know there is so much rich history here locally.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
