Chicago’s own Gold Spike Ceremony

On May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit in Utah, the famous Golden Spike was “hammered” into the last railroad tie, celebrating the birth of the Transcontinental Railroad.

79 years later beginning on July 20 1948, the “Wheels A-Rolling” pageant,  a feature of the Chicago Railroad fair, re-created  the  Golden Spike ceremony each day at the Chicago Railroad fair . It was held in both 1948 and 1949 on 50 acres along the lakefront, (where McCormick Place would be built decades later) and set an attendance record of 5,233,552 visitors

I was only four or five years old when i was one of those visitors, often referred to as “the last great railroad fair” celebrating 100 years of Chicago railroad history. I actually remember a bit of it, like Paul Bunyon and the pageant, but most of the rest is a blur. Join me as I revisit the fair that entertained and educated us all about trains.

The Wheels a-Rolling pageant was performed four times a day each during the two seasons of the fair. Each performance lasting approximately seventy-five minutes featuring at least 150 human performers, “eighty horses and other animals,” and fourteen scenes of transportation history. One scene was the gold spike reenactment. All told, except for bad weather, there were theoretically 576 performances of the pageant, and the gold spike reenactment. Admission was one dollar.

In addition to the Wheels a rolling pageant, there was an incredible display of locomotives, railroad cars, and other exhibits celebrating the history of transportation.

There was the enormous Union Pacific’s 4-8-8-4 “Big Boy” steam locomotive,

a San Francisco cable car, the Pioneer Zephyr, Milwaukee Road bipolar electric, Chesapeake and Ohio steam turbine, a State Street cable car and many more .

A miniature narrow gauge streamliner by Union Pacific provided rides for kids running the length of the grounds, for $.10 per ride. The train was lettered for the Deadwood Central Railroad, a defunct railroad in South Dakota.

Besides the thirty-nine railroads who participated in the fair, there were more than twenty equipment manufacturers, including General Motors.

The Santa Fe railroad sponsored an Indian Village where Native Americans sold handicrafts, staged dances, and explained the different types of lodging that were on display.

And oh yes, Chicago even had its own Moffat Tunnel, a replica built by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad for the fair. It was built with the aid of a Quonset hut, and a searchlight signal outside. Inside there were rock exhibits and scale models depicting the history of transportation.

Two of the 5 million visitors were Walt Disney and his animator Ward Kimball, both of whom loved trains, especially steam. The Chicago Railroad fair played a big part in furthering Walt ‘s love of trains and was even allowed to operate some of the steam locomotives.

 Upon their return to Los Angeles, Disney used visits to the Chicago Railroad fair, the House of David Amusement Park, and Greenfield Village as inspiration for a “Mickey Mouse Park” that eventually became Disneyland… Walt built his own backyard railroad, the Carolwood Pacific

If you have enjoyed this story, or are old enough (like me) to remember the fair, please leave a comment below. I also invite you to subscribe to this website so that I can let you know of new stories about Chicago and about Chicago cemeteries. Subscribing is free.

And while you’re at it, check out these two stories, just click on their links

Funeral trains serving the Cemeteries

Being a Kid on a Miniature Train