Palace of Transportation

Palace of Transportation

Location	Main Picture
No. of Buildings	1
Construction
Construction Cost	$684,608 ($20.6 million in 2021)
Architecture
Architect	E. L. Masqueray
Dimensions	525' x 1,300'

With an obvious train station vibe, the Palace of Transportation stood west of the Palace of Varied Industries and north of the Palace of Machinery as part of the Main Picture.

Description

Built by Chicago's H. W. Schlueter, the Transportation palace was one of the last of the colossal edifices to be constructed for the Fair, the immense building covered 15.6 acres. Sixty foot high entrance arches lead to east end 14 indoor railroad tracks which ran the entire span of the building. The palace marked the 100th anniversary of the invention of the steam locomotive.

The major theme for the Palace of Transportation (as with the entire Fair), was Life and Motion.

The Big Four on display.

The centerpiece exhibit of the grand palace was the American Locomotive Company's display of a 160 ton engine and coal car. Mounted on a massive revolving turnstile, it was named The Spirit of St. Louis.

Inside, the palace harbored an enormous mixture of historical and state of the art forms of transportation. The displays varied from the time of the stage coach to the era of the 'modern' car, varying from the simple to the palatial.

Chief of the Department of Transportation, Willard A. Smith wrote "Transportation is the life of modern civilization." The Department gave the Fair 200,000 dollars to develop and demonstrate aviation at the Exposition. The palace displayed a multitude of the latest means of travel. Though the automobile was still in its infancy, there were 160 on display and even to purchase. Fairgoers could view the latest trains and water craft. The American Street Flushing Machine Company showcased their street cleaning machines and fairgoers could marvel at sections of tunnel, steamships, gliders, motorboats and aviation. The Pennsylvania Railroad displayed a huge detailed 'model' of New York Central Station, while other models of stations from St. Louis and Washington DC were shown.

Locomotive Testing

The locomotive testing plant.

In the western end of the building, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, The Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburg supplied a laboratory for testing the efficiency of locomotives. Supervised by F. D. Casanave, the array of tests were extensive, the results were calculated in a 'computing room' to keep pace with the development of observed data in the laboratory. The data was presented in three different relations:

1. The performance of the locomotive as a whole, under which relation general comparisons will be based on work developed at the drawbar.

2. The performance of the boiler.

3. The performance of the engines.

Notable Displays

San Francisco brought in the first street car (1873), ever used.

Hayes-Apperson displayed the first ever gasoline-run automobile (1893). Young companies: Ford, Studebaker, Rambler and Oldsmobile all has displays. France, the world's leading manufacturer of automobiles at the time had an exhibit that almost exclusively devoted to them. Fulton and Walker Company displayed a number of ambulances, while fairgoers could view the latest in hearses. The John Deere Plow Company displayed the latest buggies.

As a bizarre oddity, one company displayed a dried but still pungent leather skin of 'Rajah', the famous elephant from Ringling Brothers Circus. In 1900, the elephant contracted a disease called musth and killed seven men. The beast was too powerful to be killed by poison and guns, so they dynamited the animal. Besides the hide, a display depicting the history of Rajah in pictures brought in a multitude of the curious.

Another display was Dr. Bircher's War Museum, from Aarau Switzerland, whose relief maps full illustrated all the American wars.

The United States featured many yachts, work boats of all types and a historical display of navigation along the Mississippi River.

Because President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, the Fair built a secure railroad line straight through Forest Park and into the Palace of Transportation. This route would allow President Theodore Roosevelt to access to the Fair (and a quick exit if trouble ensued).

Gallery

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  Brazilian Exhibit

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  Westinghouse stand in the Russian exhibit

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  Means of transportation in history

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  History of the Engine

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  First Engine

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  Early locomotive engine

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  The Northwest Pioneer

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  First coach train

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  German train to set the record of 100mph

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  Section of the New Jersey Tunnel

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  $20k steam launch

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  Automobile Exhibit

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  Carriage Exhibit

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  Foreign Automobile Display

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  Northwestern Military homemade automobile