50 Fun Facts About World's Fairs

In which part of London was the Great Exhibition of 1851 held?

Six million people visited, about a third of the population of England and Wales at the time.

Who designed the Crystal Palace that housed the Great Exhibition?

Paxton drew on his experience building greenhouses for the Duke of Devonshire, and the building went up in nine months.

Which royal is credited with the idea for the 1851 Great Exhibition?

The exhibition's surplus went on to fund the Victoria and Albert, Science and Natural History museums.

Which famous diamond drew crowds to the India exhibit at the Great Exhibition?

Visitors also queued to pay a penny for George Jennings' flush toilets, the first modern public ones.

Where was the Crystal Palace re-erected after the 1851 exhibition closed?

Sir Henry Buckland, walking his dog, spotted the red glow of the fatal fire on the evening of 30 November 1936; his daughter was named Crystal after the building.

Which city organised what is called the first world's fair, in 1791?

It was held in the Clementinum for the coronation of Leopold II as king of Bohemia.

Which centenary did the Paris Exposition Universelle of the Eiffel Tower celebrate?

It was also meant to pull France out of an economic recession.

In which year did the Eiffel Tower open as the centrepiece of a Paris world's fair?

It was then the tallest structure in the world, and its permanent preservation was only decided in 1909, when Eiffel's concession ran out.

A protest group against the Eiffel Tower took its name from what number?

Signatories included Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet.

Which anniversary was the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago meant to celebrate?

It opened a year late, in 1893, for the 400th anniversary of the 1492 voyage.

What nickname did the 1893 Chicago fairgrounds get from its pale neoclassical buildings?

Daniel Burnham was director of works and Frederick Law Olmsted laid out the grounds.

Which ride debuted at the 1893 Chicago fair as an answer to the Eiffel Tower?

Its late June opening helped save the fair from bankruptcy.

How many people could the giant wheel at the 1893 Chicago fair carry at once?

It was finally dynamited for scrap in St. Louis in 1906 after a second life at the 1904 fair.

Which electrical system triumphed by lighting the 1893 Chicago fair?

Westinghouse underbid General Electric by 70 cents per lamp to win the contract.

Which Chicago mayor was assassinated two days before the 1893 fair closed?

Cermak was killed decades later, in 1933, by a bullet meant for Franklin Roosevelt.

Which chewing gum was among products launched at the 1893 Chicago fair?

Shredded Wheat and Cream of Wheat also made their debut at the fair.

Which city hosted the 1876 Centennial Exposition, America's first official world's fair?

President Grant and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil started the giant Corliss steam engine to open Machinery Hall.

Which invention did Alexander Graham Bell show at the 1876 Centennial Exposition?

Heinz Ketchup and Hires Root Beer also had their public debuts there.

Which part of the Statue of Liberty was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition?

The complete statue was not dedicated in New York Harbor until 1886.

Which Olympic Games were held as part of the 1904 St. Louis world's fair?

Many Europeans stayed away because of travel costs and the Russo-Japanese War, and even Coubertin did not attend.

Which food is most popularly claimed to have been introduced at the 1904 St. Louis fair?

Hot dogs, iced tea and cotton candy claims are considered dubious, since they existed earlier.

Which anniversary did the 1904 St. Louis exposition commemorate?

Like Chicago's, it opened a year late, and it inspired the song and film Meet Me in St. Louis.

Which Paris structures built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle still stand?

The fair also brought international attention to the Art Nouveau style.

Which Paris transit route opened for the 1900 exposition?

Escalators, talking films and matryoshka dolls were also shown to the world at the fair.

Which waterway's completion did the 1915 San Francisco exposition celebrate?

Its 435-foot Tower of Jewels was the centrepiece; only the Palace of Fine Arts survives on site.

Which fan dancer became a famous attraction of Chicago's 1933 Century of Progress fair?

The Burlington Zephyr arrived on stage there in 1934 after a record dawn-to-dusk run from Denver.

What was the theme of the 1939 New York fair?

Its Trylon and Perisphere held Democracity, a diorama of a utopian city of the future.

Which two structures formed the symbol of the 1939 New York fair?

The 610-foot spire and 180-foot sphere were linked by what was then the world's longest escalator.

Which company's Futurama exhibit showed a model city of the future at the 1939 fair?

Westinghouse's stand starred Elektro, a robot that talked and smoked cigarettes.

Which Brussels landmark was built for Expo 58?

Expo 58 was the first major world's fair registered with the BIE after the Second World War.

What does the nine-sphere structure of Expo 58 represent?

It shows a unit cell of iron magnified 165 billion times, and the spheres were originally clad in aluminium, not stainless steel.

Which landmark was built for Seattle's Century 21 Exposition in 1962?

At 605 feet it was briefly the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

Which Elvis Presley film was set at the 1962 Seattle exposition?

Kurt Russell, then ten, appears as a boy who kicks Elvis in the shin.

Which Michelangelo sculpture was shown at the Vatican pavilion of the 1964 New York fair?

Visitors passed the marble on moving walkways behind bulletproof glass.

Which Disney attraction was created for the 1964 New York fair?

An Audio-Animatronic Abraham Lincoln at the Illinois pavilion proved so popular the technology spread through Disney's parks.

Which steel globe was the symbol of the 1964 New York World's Fair?

It stands 140 feet high in Flushing Meadows and weighs about 700,000 pounds.

Which sports car was launched at the 1964 New York World's Fair?

Belgian waffles were among the foods popularised by the same fair.

Which book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry inspired the theme of Expo 67 in Montreal?

Expo 67 drew more than 50 million visitors when Canada's population was only 20 million, a per-capita record.

Which architect designed the modular Habitat 67 housing complex for Expo 67?

Buckminster Fuller's geodesic US pavilion survives as the Montreal Biosphere.

Which baseball team was named after a world's fair?

After 1967, organisers retired the term world's fair in favour of Expo.

Which artist created the Tower of the Sun for Expo '70 in Osaka?

Expo '70 was the first world's fair held in Asia, and a Moon rock from Apollo 12 was its star exhibit.

Which anniversary did Seville's Expo '92, themed 'The Age of Discoveries', celebrate?

Barcelona hosted the Olympics the same summer, and five new bridges were built over the Guadalquivir.

Which 1984 world's fair was the only one to declare bankruptcy while still open?

Its post-modern Wonderwall by Charles Moore is still fondly remembered in the city.

Which gold-globed tower was the symbol of the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair?

The fair's theme was Energy Turns the World.

Which Expo set the all-time attendance record with more than 73 million visitors?

Its theme was Better City, Better Life, and its mascot Haibao was compared to Gumby.

Why did Expo 2020 in Dubai open in October 2021 but keep its name?

It was the first World Expo hosted in the Middle East, under the slogan Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.

Which Paris-based body has sanctioned world expos since a 1928 convention?

It never formally recognised the 1964 New York fair, which broke rules on duration and charging rent.

Which theme did Expo 2015 in Milan adopt?

Milan beat İzmir in Turkey for the right to host it.

Which architect designed the Grand Ring at Expo 2025 in Osaka?

The site on the artificial island of Yumeshima made it the first Expo held on an island.

Which Kazakh capital hosted the 2017 Specialised Expo on the theme 'Future Energy'?

Specialised Expos are smaller, themed events held between the five-yearly World Expos; Yeosu's 2012 theme was 'The Living Ocean and Coast'.