26 Vintage Photos of The Great Lakes Expositions of 1936 & 1937

Admiral Byrd’s South Pole Ship docked at the Great Lakes Exposition with the Firestone building and Hall of Progress in the background

Aerial view of the Great Lakes Exposition grounds

Airplane view of the Great Lakes Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio, showing Aurora Borealis

Audience at a performance at Billy Rose’s Aquacade at the Great Lakes Exposition

An audience watches a performance at Streets of the World. The Streets of the World attraction at the Great Lakes Exposition featured shopping, dining, and scenery representative of the following cultures: African, Armenian, Austrian, Belgian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hindu, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Manx, Mexican, Norwegian, Polish, Rusin, Russian, Romanian, Scotch, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss, Syrian, Ukrainian and Welsh. Streets of the World paid tribute to Cleveland’s immigrant heritage and enabled visitors to experience a variety of cultures.

Audience in the stands during a performance at the Marine Theater; Hall of Progress in the background

Billy Rose with Olympic swimmers Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weissmuller on a diving board at Billy Rose’s Aquacade at the Great Lakes Exposition

Billy Rose’s Aquacade divers, some captured here in mid-air, perform for crowds at the Great Lakes Exposition, 1937.

Crowds gather in front of the Higbee Tower, Florida Exhibit, and Winterland; the entrance to the Midway and Streets of the Worlds exhibit is visible in the distance. The Higbee Tower was a shopping center. The state of Florida’s exhibit at the Great Lakes Exposition spanned over more than two acres, including the Florida Manor–an example of Georgian Colonial architecture, a fountain, and an orange tree grove.

Can-can dancers at the Great Lakes Exposition. While these women are dressed, some dancers at the 1936 Great Lakes Exposition performed nude, causing much controversy. To alleviate complaints, for the 1937 Exposition the administration signed on Billy Rose, who organized appropriate entertainment such as the Aquacade, a diving and synchronized swimming theater, and Winterland, an ice show.

Divers leap into Lake Erie as part of a performance at Billy Rose’s Aquacade at the Great Lakes Exposition in 1937. Diving and synchronized swimming shows, along with performances by Olympic champion swimmers Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weissmuller, were the attractions of Billy Rose’s Aquacade, a theater-restaurant that seated 5000. Introduced at the 1937 Great Lakes Exposition, the Aquacade was so popular that it went to the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and 1940.

Exhibits for Timken and National Malleable and Steel Castings Co. inside the Hall of Progress at the Great Lakes Exposition. The Great Lakes Exposition took place on the lakefront of Cleveland, Ohio in 1936 and 1937.

Garden scene with statues and a pool at the Great Lakes Exposition, likely part of the Donald Gray Gardens

Great Lakes Exposition – Street of Presidents

Great Lakes Exposition executives in an automobile. In the back seat (L-R): Dudley Blossom, Chairman of the Exposition; possibly Lenox R. Lohr, general manager of the Century of Progress exhibit and president of N.B.C.; W.T. Holliday, president of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and President of the 1937 Great Lakes Exposition. In the front seat (L-R): Unidentified; Lincoln G. Dickey, general manager of–and driving force behind–the Great Lakes Exposition; Unidentified.