Art
In 1934, Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition dazzled millions of visitors with electric fountains, a marvel of engineering and design. For ordinary Americans emerging from the Depression, the fair promised a glimpse of a modern future powered by electricity—a technology still new to many homes.
Art · Full story
You step into the hall and stop. Water cascades in perfect arcs, each stream lit from within by colored bulbs that shift from amber to green to blue. The fountain seems alive, breathing light. Around you, families point and gasp—some have never seen anything like it. Electricity transformed into pure magic.
Reflect
What technology in your daily life feels as magical and impossible as this electric fountain did to visitors in 1934?