On Sept. 16, 1934, my mother, Mabel Weyand, and her parents, Charles and Carrie Forrester, boarded a train at Medill, MO, for Chicago to attend the Century of Progress International Exposition, a spectacular fair that had begun the year before. The special round-trip fare, offered by the Santa Fe Railroad, was $5.45 per person

Mabel and her parents needed the low fare, as the Great Depression was in full swing in 1934. The Forresters lived in Kahoka, where Charlie was a rural mail carrier. My parents lived on a farm a few miles to the west, where my dad raised beef cattle along with corn, soybeans and other crops, but money was tight. To stretch their meager resources, my mother had been giving piano lessons to neighboring youngsters, and had recently begun raising chickens for extra “egg money.”

Before she and her parents left for the fair, Mabel wrote in her diary that she had canned many quarts of tomatoes and other vegetables. The well-stocked shelves in their basement would keep them virtually self-sufficient during the winter months ahead.

Besides the reduced train cost, they also would save money on lodgings in Chicago, as they would be staying at the home of one of my mother’s college friends on Wabash Avenue. My mother was familiar with the city, as she had lived there between Chautauqua gigs during the 1920s, working as an usher in a couple of theaters, and clerking in a department store.

The Century of Progress International Exposition commemorated Chicago’s centennial, and was a true World’s Fair, with international exhibits. Its theme was technological innovation, and major corporations exhibited the latest in rail and automotive travel and household conveniences. One of the highlights was the Sky Ride, a bridge that enabled fair-goers to travel from one side of the fair to another. When the exposition ended in November, attendance exceeded 48 million, making it the first World’s Fair to pay for itself.

Cover of Santa Fe brochure with special rates and schedules

Fifth Day

On the fifth day, Mabel reported they “saw the violin Heifetz took first lesson on in the Hall of States.” She called the Florida Building & Gardens “loveliest of them all.” They ate orange sherbet on a “rainy afternoon,” and visited the Hall of Science “between showers.”

They toured the Travel & Transport Building on the sixth day, and “saw Barney Oldfield on the proving ground,” then saw glass works and a model home. Later, they saw “Firestone Singing Fountains, Hungarian Bazaar,” and topped off the day with a fireworks show in the evening.

Sunday, they attended church at the Hyde Park United Church, and heard “fine music.” After having dinner with their hosts, they went back to the Exposition and saw the “Japanese Building of 1893 Fair restoration,” and ended the day “taking a walk” around their host’s neighborhood.

On the eighth day, Mabel said she “went downtown this morning on the surface car” and went shopping at Sears, Carson Pirie’s and the Davis Store.”
There was more shopping on the ninth day. She went downtown on the streetcar and bought some upholstery fabric at the basement store at Marshall Fields, then had lunch at the Crystal Buffet on the seventh floor. Later, she and her parents visited Lincoln Park.
On Sept. 26, the trio went to the Dearborn Station and boarded the 10:20 a.m. Santa Fe train for their return home, arriving late that afternoon. My dad met them at the station in Medill.
Then it was back to the farm for Mother. Along with regular housework, she resumed canning the bounty of vegetables from their large garden. And I have no doubt her piano pupils would hear many stories about the Century of Progress Exhibition.