Moving Walkways
The 1893 World’s Fair was large. It required a great deal of stamina to walk the 600-acre grounds without collapsing in a heap of exhaustion. For a bit of respite, developers created a moving walkway along a pier that extended over Lake Michigan. For five cents, fairgoers could stand or walk on a platform. The platform gave its 6,000 daily riders a break from the walk and a bit of shade to sit under. The moving walkway consisted of two parallel moving platforms that ran up and down the pier. The first platform allowed standing riders to move at two miles an hour. One step up was a second, four-mile an hour platform that had benches for an additional layer of relaxation. The sidewalk took them to and from a casino at the end of the pier.