Friday, May 27, 2011

Havoline Thermometer, International Exposition of Chicago 1933


Havoline Thermometer
Century of Progress International Exposition
Chicago 1933

World's Tallest Thermometer

Twenty-one stories (218ft.) high.  Shows temperature by neon-light tubes.  Sponsored by Indian Refining Company, Lawrenceville, Ill., makers of Waxfree Havoline Motor Oil - best for all cars, winter or summer, because it contains no wax.  Wax turns candle-hard with cold, weather-thin with heat.  Keep wax out of your motor!  Waxfree Havoline Motor oil is sold at all Texaco Stations

This postcard is unused.

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Originally, the fair was scheduled only to run until November 12, 1933, (it opened on May 27, 1933), but it was so successful that it was opened again to run from May 26 to October 31, 1934. The fair was financed through the sale of memberships, which allowed purchases of a certain number of admissions once the park was open. More than $800,000 was raised in this manner as the country came out of the Great Depression. A $10 million bond was issued on October 28, 1929, the day before the stock market crashed. By the time the fair closed in 1933, half of these notes had been retired, with the entire debt paid by the time the fair closed in 1934. For the first time in American history, an international fair had paid for itself. In its two years, it had attracted 48,769,227 visitors.

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