Encyclopedia o f Chicago
Interpretive Digital Essay : Globalization: Chicago and the World
Globalization: Chicago and the World
Essay: Introduction
Essay: Chicago in the Middle Ground
Map: Chicago's World—Within a Day's Travel
Essay: Global Chicago
Galleries:
Colonial Trans-Atlantic Networks
A Cosmopolitan Frontier
Global Capitalism and Chicago Real Estate
Built Environment in a Mercantile Metropolis
Networks of Rails
World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
Turn-of-the-Century Industrialization and International Markets
The Chicago Region and Its Global Models
An Upstart Behemoth
Mailing To the World
The World in Chicago
Chicago's Twentieth-Century Cultural Exports
"The Whole World Is Watching"
Corporate Headquarters and Industrial Relics
Map: Changing Origins of Metropolitan Chicago's Foreign-Born Population
Chicago International Fair and Exposition Kiosk, 1959
Return to "Introduction"

In July 1959 the Chicago Association of Commerce, with the support of city government, hosted the Chicago International Fair and Exposition at Navy Pier. Business and civic leaders hoped to promote Chicago as a center for international trade and a marketplace for the world's goods. The Fair was held in conjunction with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which provided access for transoceanic ships from the Atlantic via the Great Lakes to Chicago. This information kiosk promoting the fair stood near the corner of State and Madison in the Loop.