Transportation Inside the Fair
To get around the fair, visitors were able to use a railroad that ran from one end of the fair to the other, or they could take a gondola on the lagoon. |
Transportation on the fairgrounds included an elevated electric Intramural Railway that was a pioneer in the third-rail method of supplying power; this ran from the South Pond to the North Inlet, with several stations, and cost 20 cents for a ride of any distance. On the waterways, a round-trip gondola ride cost 50 cents, which was also the price for an hour's trip by electrical launch...A controversial and ultimately financially unsuccessful type of conveyance was the rolling chair, which cost 40 cents an hour or $6.00 a day with a guide, or day without guide...In general there were many complaints that the in-fair transportation was insufficient.
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The first moving sidewalk was introduced at the fair. It was used to help visitors get from steamships to the fair.A movable sidewalk while under construction before the opening of the exposition. The sidewalk was constructed on a 2,500 foot pier that met steamships coming in on Lake Michigan and carried 6,000 visitors at a time. A ticket was a nickel and the sidewalk moved at a rate of six miles an hour. The sidewalk was not in operation until July and was prone to breakdowns.
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