HemisFair '68

HemisFair '68 was the first officially designated world's fair (or international exposition) held in the southwestern United States. San Antonio, Texas hosted the fair from April 6 through October 6, 1968. More than thirty nations hosted pavilions at the fair. The fair was held in conjunction with the 250th (semiquincentennial) anniversary of the founding of San Antonio. The theme of the fair was "The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas."

The official world's fair sanctioning body, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) accredited HemisFair '68 on November 17, 1965. The venture, which had an announced cost of $156 million, was financed by a combination of public and private funds. Public funding included $12.2 million from the United States Housing and Home Finance Agency for acquiring and clearing the site, $11 million in publicly approved city bonds for construction of the convention center and arena, $5.5 million in general revenues from the City of San Antonio for construction of the Tower of the Americas, $10 million from the State of Texas primarily for the construction of the Texas State Pavilion and $7.5 million from the United States Congress for the construction of the United States pavilion. [ [Handbook of Texas|id=HH/lkh1|name=Hemisfair '68] ] Major corporate sponsors and pavilions were built by Eastman Kodak, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, Humble Oil (now ExxonMobil), IBM, RCA, Southwestern Bell (now AT&T, Inc.), Frito Lay, Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, American Express, Chrysler, 3M, the Mormon Church among others. [ [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utsa/00050/00050p1-P.html A Guide to the San Antonio Fair, Inc., Records, 1963-1995 (Bulk 1964-1968) Series 1: Executive Officers ] ]

Major international pavilions at the fair included Canada, Mexico, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, Belgium, Bolivia, Republic of China, Colombia, West Germany, Korea, Panama, Portugal, Switzerland, Thailand and Venezuela. There were also shared pavilions such as a five-nation Central American pavilion, representing Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica and the special pavilions of the Organization of American States, which represented eleven more Latin-American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. [ [Handbook of Texas|id=HH/lkh1|name=Hemisfair '68] ]

Held just two days after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, the opening ceremonies for the fair were attended (under heavy security) by First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson and Texas Governor John Connally, both of whom received death threats. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_1993/ai_n19122249 Initial Security | International Directory of Company Histories | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]

The fair was built on a 96.2 acre (389,000 m²) site on the southeastern edge of downtown San Antonio. The site was acquired mainly through eminent domain and many structures were demolished and moved, in what was considered a blighted area, to make room for the fair. The project was partially developed with federal urban renewal funds. The San Antonio Conservation Society recommended that 129 structures on the site be preserved; however, on August 9, 1966 an agreement was made to save only 20 existing structures that would be incorporated into the fair site. Overall only 24 structures were saved.

The fair's theme structure is the 750 foot (228 m) tall Tower of the Americas, which remains today. The top of the tower houses a revolving restaurant, lounge, and outdoor observation deck, and it was designed by renowned architect O'Neil Ford.

The fair's largest pavilion belonged to the State of Texas. This pavilion also remained after the fair closed and became the Institute of Texan Cultures, which is operated as a museum and campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The United States Pavilion (now the John H. Wood, Jr. United States District Court for the Western District of Texas) remains today as well as the Mexico Pavilion (now the Mexican Cultural Institute), although the original structure was modified and expanded during the expansion of the adjacent convention center and was re-opened in 2002.

In addition, as a part of the overall HemisFair project, the city extended its River Walk (Paseo del Rio) one-quarter of a mile in order to link the River Walk and the HemisFair grounds in 1968. In 2001, the River Walk was extended again under the new Convention Center Expansion and is now connected to a small lagoon inside HemisFair Park.

Although HemisFair '68 attracted 6.3 million visitors and brought international attention to San Antonio and Texas, attendance never matched estimates and San Antonio's world's fair lost $7.5 million.

After HemisFair, much of the land ownership was transferred to the State of Texas and the U.S. Federal Government. Today, the City of San Antonio owns approximately 50 acres of the site, 30 of which the Convention Center occupies. [http://www.sanantonio.gov/planning/pdf/hemisfair/04a_site_history.pdf#search='hemisfair%20park%20history']

In 1986, many unused remaining structures built for the fair were removed and in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of HemisFair '68, approximately 15 acres of the site were redeveloped with cascading waterfalls, fountains, playgrounds and lush landscaping. Many of the improvements were concentrated near the base of the Tower of the Americas. At the site's rededication in April 1988, the site was re-christened "HemisFair Park." The urban park is a lasting legacy of the fair and is a gift from the city to its citizens.

References

External links

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* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utsa/00050/utsa-00050p13.html San Antonio Fair, Inc. Records] (finding aid) at the University of Texas at San Antonio Archives
* [http://lib.utsa.edu/Archives/Guides/hemisfair/index.html A Guide to HemisFair '68 History and Resources] at the University of Texas at San Antonio Archives