AUSTIN, Texas — It’s no secret that many Texans are proud of their state – and that pride was evident long ago when people from across America celebrated 100 years of Texas independence with what historians consider to be the first world’s fair in the southwest United States.
The year was 1936 as Texas celebrated 100 years of independence, and the centennial was a big deal, with festivities in small towns and big cities alike across the state.
By far the biggest celebration was held at Dallas’ Fair Park. A movie made at the time offers a rare look today at the Texas Centennial Exposition and shows what drew the crowds back then.
Like the Texas of today, the brief documentary film reveals an exposition that celebrated both technology and traditions. The technology included a 10-foot-tall robot that moved, lights that created sound and sounds that created light, the mechanical ingenuity of modern cars of the time, massive robotic dinosaurs that engaged in battle and much more.
The traditions included square dancing to country fiddle music, displays of Longhorn cattle and skits demonstrating Old West-style justice that looked like something out of the cowboy movies.
The film also depicts scenes that capture the stark differences between Texas’ rural, mostly agrarian life and the dynamism of its big cities – a split, politically and culturally, that is still with us today.
Unique for the times was the first ever exhibition hall that honored the contributions and culture of Black Americans.
The echoes from that exposition are still reverberating in the form of so many of the remarkable buildings from that time that are still in regular use today. Last November, Dallas voters approved spending up to $300 million for improvements at Fair Park, the site of the 1936 exposition, and at the Cotton Bowl next door.
So, next time you attend the Texas State Fair at Dallas’ Fair Park, think about all those people who were there in 1936 – six million in all – who walked the very steps you’ll likely be walking. Steps taken from a time when Texas – and the world – was a much different place.