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The Worlds Fair and Exposition
Information and Reference Guide

Expo 67 - Montreal, Canada

  

Index

  

  • 114 facts and trivia nuggets with 42 links to more resources. 

  • The World's Fair and Exposition Information and Reference Guide is now on CD.
    11,216 facts and 1,362 web links covering 24 World's Fairs and Expositions.
    Further information can be found here.

  • To Convert Dollar Amounts to the Year 2003: divide the amount by .202

 

 

The following are on the World's Fair CD
 
High Resolution Images (12) Bonus: 1967 Timeline (41)
more Facts (I'm working on it)  
 

 

 

Statistics

  

 

  • Dates: April 28 - October 27, 1967. Opening Ceremononies: April 27th

  • Theme: Man and His World.

  • Area: 1000 acres.

  • Cost: $1,000,000,000

  • Attendance: 50,000,000+.

  • Admission: Adults: $2.50 day, $12 week, $35 season. 
    Youth: $2.50 day, $10 week, $30 season. Children: $1.25 day, $6 week, $17.50 season.

  • Hours: 9:30 AM - 10:00 PM, La Ronde: 9:30 AM - 2:30 AM.

  • Accommodations: motels and hotels ($10.00 - $40.00 a day), camping ($3.50 a day), and college dormitories ($2.50 a day for a shared room, $5.00 a day for private room).

  • Official Guide Book: $1.00.

  • National Pavilions: 63.

  • Participating Nations: 70.

  • Bandshells: 5.

  • Type of Exposition: Category 1.

  • The Expo coincided with Canada's 100th Anniversary of "Confederation" and was originally offered to Toronto.

  • The theme was based on the book "Man and his World" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

  • There were seven sub-themes: Man in the Community, Man the Creator, Man the Explorer, Man the Producer, Man the Provider, Habitat67 and Labyrinth. 

  • The Expo Symbol, eight identical groups of paired figures representing the unity of mankind in the world, is fashioned after the oldest known drawings of man.

  • Altogether there were: 847 buildings, 27 bridges, 51 miles of roadway and walkway, 23 miles of sewers and drains, 70 clocks, 12 clock towers, 40 telephone answering units, 12 information booths, 3 post offices, 4 emergency clinics, 280 guides, 336 public telephones, 6 radio studios,  4 mobile television units, 3 mobile radio units,  386 vending machines, 13 restaurants, 38 snack bars, 285 boutiques, 4330 trash cans and parking for over 24,000 cars.

  • The 1967 sanctioning was initially granted to Russia for the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution. But Russia pulled out in 1962 for lack of funds.

  • The original architects were not credited with the initial proposal until after they were let out of the planning committee. Apparently, the self-aggrandizing Mayor was glory-hounding.

  • The average visitor was predicted to spend less than $5 a day.

  • Two double-decker buses brought over from London were used in the evening hours.

   

Facts and Trivia

  

 

  • Island construction began on August 13, 1963. The master plan was officially submitted on December 23, 1963. And the land was handed over to Montreal on June 30, 1964.

  • By the summer of 1965, all building foundations, roadways and underground work was completed. Buildings were finished in 1966. Participants began work on their exhibits 
    during the winter of 1966.

  • The Exposition was spread over Cité du Havre and two islands in the Saint Lawrence River.

  • Ile Sainte-Hèléne was doubled in size and Ile Notre Dame was created. It took ten months, 15 million tons of rock and two of the worlds largest dredgers. Over 26,000 feet of external walls and 21,150 feet of internal walls were created. The fill job began in October 1963 and completed in June 1964.

  • The Concordia bridge to Ile Sainte-Hèléne was completed in 18 months. The bridge is 2,265 feet long, weighs 10,000 tons and is one of the longest orthotropic bridges in the world.

  • You could reach the islands by bridge, canal boat, ferry boat, rail or hovercraft.

  • The Montreal Métro subway was created in under 5 years. It is 15 1/2 miles long and was built at a cost of $213,700,000. There are 26 stations and 369 coaches that can move 60,000 people every 90 seconds. And it's the world's only underground rail system run entirely on pneumatic tires.

  • The International Rose Garden contained 100 varieties of rose plants from 15 countries, with 100 plants of each variety. That's 10,000 plants on 5 acres of land. Reader's Digest commissioned paintings of 13 varieties of roses which were sold after the Expo and the money donated to the Canadian Association for Retarded Children.

  • Parc Hèléne de Champlain on Ile Sainte-Hèléne was home to the world's largest electronic carillon. The Sun Life Centenary Carillon sits atop the 153 foot high summit of Mount Boullé and has 671 bells.

  • A large animated model in the Man and the Oceans exhibit showed the famous Zuider Zee Land Reclamation project in the Netherlands.

  • In the Man the Provider sector, buildings were made of earth mounds and turf.

  • You could walk into a model of a human cell which had been magnified 1 million times.

  • The 25,000 seat Automotive Stadium was sponsored by American Motors, Chrysler, General Motors and Volvo.

  • A three-dimensional Periodic Temple containing examples was on display in the Resources for Man exhibit. 

  • The Largest Pavilion was the Canadian Pavilion. It covered 11 acres, had 125 exhibits and incorporated a "Katimavik" (an inverted pyramid). Katimavik is Eskimo for Meeting Place.

  • The Pavilion of the Province of Quebec covered 25,000 square feet and was built entirely over water. 

  

  

  • The United States Pavilion was a 20 story tall, 250 foot in diameter transparent geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller. It had the nickname, "Bucky's Bubble". He created many of these domes which are called "Bucky Ball's".

  • The tinted exterior in the United States Pavilion was controlled by computer. It adjusted the panels according to the sun's position in the sky. 

  • The US Pavilion contained a simulated lunar landscape complete with lunar vehicles.

  • In the French Pavilion, the Paris exhibit displayed futuristic plans for the city in 2000.

  • The Israeli Pavilion displayed an entire Dead Sea Scroll. 

  • The Cuban Pavilion was a combination of geometric shapes and sizes. As a matter of fact, just about every building was geometrically challenged. But after the exposition, it was dismantled and reassembled in Cuba for exhibition purposes.

  • The 22 minute film "Canada 67" was produced in "Circle-Vision 360º" by Walt Disney using a 9 camera rig weighing 400 pounds. The film was displayed in the Telephone Association of Canada Pavilion on 9 wrap-around movie screens using 9 separate projectors and 12 synchronized sound channels, surrounding the audience.

  • La Ronde was the name of the amusement area and was a permanent addition.

  • The Canadian Pulp and Paper Pavilion resembled a forest of trees ... with some of them eight stories high.

  • American troops occupied Montreal for eight months in 1775.

  • Montreal is situated on an island. And in 1967, it had 936 miles of streets, 12 miles of riverfront and was 325 years old.

  • The Fine Arts Pavilion had over 200 works loaned by 50 art galleries in 30 countries. The exhibit featured works from: Rodin, Cézanne, Rouault, Gainsborough, Matisse, Tintoretto, Velasquez and Van Gogh.

  • Only three US States, Vermont, New York and Maine, were represented at the Expo.

  • In 2000 La Ronde was purchased by Six Flags.

  • The MiniRail was so popular with sightseers that the price was raised from 40¢ to 50¢.

  • The MiniRail had two different sets of trains. One set was made in Switzerland in 1964 and was brought out of storage and refurbished. The second set was manufactured in Montreal especially for the Expo. They ran on three tracks and transported over 7 million people in the first 3 months.

  • Multi-screen theatre's were prevalent throughout the Expo.

  • The Labyrinth was 5 stories tall and contained 3 chambers. One chamber had a 50 foot vertical screen and one on the floor below with visitors watching the show on four-tiered balconies. The second chamber was a dark mirrored hallway with blinking lights and sounds. Which lead to a third chamber that continued the show using 5 screens. People rarely understood the total concept but it didn't stop them from waiting in line for up to 4 hours.

  • The Czechoslovakian Pavilion had the Dioplyecran, a slide-show presentation displayed on a wall with 112 cubed screens that moved backwards and forwards. Each cube used two Kodak slide projectors. Over 15,000 images were displayed in 11 minutes. And you had to sit on the carpeted floor to view the show.

  • The Netherlands Pavilion had over 57,000 pieces of aluminum piping (that's 35 miles) and was put together with wrenches. Just like an Erector set.

  • The German Pavilion's roof was made of steel mesh and supported by eight steel poles of varying height. It was similar to military camouflaging and covered 100,000 square feet.

  

  

  • In 1967, the world population increased by two people every second. Which means that during the six months of the Exposition, the worlds population increased by 34,600,000 people or more than double the entire population of Canada.

  • The following countries were represented at Expo67: Algeria, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Burma, Cameroon, Canada, Ceylon, Chad, Czechoslovakia, China, Congo, Cuba, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Poland, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tobago, Togo, Trinidad, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Republic, United States, USSR, Venezuela, Yugoslavia.

  • Asbestos Plaza was near the Canadian Pavilion and sponsored by the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association. Asbestos was used extensively throughout the Expo grounds including planters and park benches. Even a 20 foot high fountain in the plaza was constructed from a large chunk of green asbestos ore. A sharp contrast to the Nature an Environmental theme that was prevalent throughout the exposition.

  • The Korean Pavilion displayed an authentic reproduction of the world's first iron-clad warship, designed by Admiral Yi Sun-Shin in 1595.

  • The Gutenberg Press (world's first printing press) was operating in the German Pavilion.

  • A working model of the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric and irrigation project was on display in the Australian Pavilion. As well as bark paintings by aborigines.

  • Cloth woven by Mahatma Gandhi was on display in the Pavilion of India. Ghandi was only 21 years old when he joined other religious leaders in the 1893 Columbina Exposition.

  • The Mexican Pavilion displayed pre-Columbian art and 16th century religious artifacts.

  • The United Arab Republic Pavilion told the story of the Answan High Dam.

  • The main building of the Thailand Pavilion was a replica of an 18th century Buddhist shrine. It was built in Thailand, shipped in pieces to Montreal and then re-assembled for the expo.

  • The USSR Pavilion celebrated space technology as well as their 50th anniversary.

  • Ghana's Pavilion discussed the Volta River Dam Project. The newly created man-made lake covered 4% of the country. When completed, it supplied 883 megawatts of power.

  • Every hour a "simulated equatorial storm" was re-created in the Ugandan Pavilion.

  • The skull of the Nutcracker Man (Zinjanthropus) was featured in Tanzania's Pavilion. 
    This fossil, discovered in 1959, established that "Homo Habilis" lived in Tanzania about 
    1.8 million years ago and for almost a million years thereafter.

  • Craftsmen built a 47 foot schooner in the Atlantic Provinces Pavilion.

  • The irregularly shaped conical roof of the Western Provinces Pavilion, had virtually no walls. The entire structure rested on earthern embankments.

  • The 48 ton Sculpture of Man by Alexander Calder, was created entirely of stainless steel.

  • The Statue of Copernicus was cast in bronze and weighed 5,400 lbs.

  • The International Broadcasting Center housed the largest television studio built by the CBC.

  • Over 120 International Olympic Committees were represented in Olympic House. It was the first time the Olympics were represented in an International Exposition exhibit.  Olympic House became the new permanent home for the Canadian Olympic Association.

  • The "Picturephone" was featured in the Telephone Association of Canada Pavilion.

 

  

  • The Brewers Pavilion was constructed from curved concrete block. And visitors were given free recipe books that featured food recipes using beer.

  • The Polymer Corporation sponsored the Polymer Pavilion. It was described a "giant sized molecular abstraction".

  • The Air Canada Pavilion had a roof that resembled a large "helix". The blades went from 87 feet wide at the bottom to 17 feet wide at the top and was 60 feet tall.

  • The International Scout Center was sponsored by the HJ Heinz Company of Canada. Operations were handled by a 100 member Scout Services Corp. They were comprised of Canadian Scouts, Rovers and Venturers. And the Boy Scouts of America who served "one week tours of duty".

  • The United Nations Pavilion issued special UN postage stamps valid in Canada. The only time in history that Canadian postage stamps were not issued by the Canadian Government.

  • Eight Christian denominations were represented in the Christian Pavilion: Anglican, Baptist, Greek-Orthodox, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Greek-Orthodox and United.

  • The Chatelaine house featured a lawn that you never cut or watered ... you vacuumed it.

  • The Kaleidescope Pavilion was sponsored by 8 chemical companies ... too many jokes for this one. And all the female guides were former "Miss Canada" contestants.

  • Sermon's of Science Pavilion demonstrated: liquid light from cold chemicals, million-volt man-made lightning and talking flashlights.

  • The Pavilion of Judaism displayed a large model of the Temple of Jerusalem.

  • The Alcan Pavilion had fish that weighed less than an ounce ... and 350 pound groupers.

  • The Alcan Pavilion and Alcan Dolphin Pool (900 seat Ampi-theatre) remained after the Expo.

  • Some of the Entertainers performing at the Expo included: Marlene Dietrich, Maureen Forrester, Carol Channing, Duke Ellington, Lawrence Olivier, Sarah Vaughn, Pearl Bailey and The Supremes.

  • The Fifth Canadian Film Festival was held at the 2,000 seat Expo-Théâtre.

  • Over 5 million tickets were sold for entertainment shows.

  • The Marina had moorings for at least 250 boats, and berths available for up to 8 days.

  • It was decided from the very beginning that there wouldn't be an Expo 68.

  • 14 year old Dan Akroyd saw Sam and Dave at Expo and was said to have been inspired to create the Blue Brothers.

  • The People Tree had 500 picture leaves.

  • The 63 National Pavilions were the most of any Fair to date.

  • The first live satellite broadcast was from the Expo, either on opening day or Australia Day. Different sources have conflicting meanings

  • Electronic message boards were used to transmit Pavilion waiting time data.

  • A 3-D Union Jack adorned the top of the British Pavilion.

  • The designer of the "Gyrotron", Sean Kenny, studied under Frank Lloyd Wright.

  • The Australina Pavilion contained 40,000 square feet of white wool carpeting. The carpeting is a major export of Australia.

   

Habitat 67

  

 

  • Habitat 67 was a revolutionary design in middle-income urban housing. 

  • It was designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie.

  • It contained 158 dwellings wiith 20 types of houses ranging from 1 bedroom (600 sq ft) to   4 bedroom (1,700 sq ft). Each environmentally placed to optimize living conditions.

  • It reached a height of 12 stories and resemble an Indian Pueblo.

  • It was constructed using 354 pre-fabricated concrete modular units. 
    Each unit was 17 feet  6 inches by 38 feet 6 inches by 10 feet in size.

  • After casting, each unit was furbished and weighed 70 - 90 tons each when lifted into place.

  • The garden of each home was the roof of another unit. With a centralized irrigation and fertilizing source built-in.

  • The service roads and pedestrian walkways were separate.

  • The Habitat was a city unto itself. It had a pedestrian plaza one level above the ground level service road and parking facilities. And you could travel by elevator or between the homes by plastic sheltered walk ways and bridges. It had shops, a school and playgrounds on the upper levels.

   

Links, Online Resources

  

    

Resources, Sources - Books

  

  • Australian Panorama. Expo '67 Souvenir Edition. 32 pages. Sidney, Australia.

  • Expo 67, Official Guide. 352 pages. MacLean-Hunter Publishing. 1966.

  • Expo 67 Is Here. The Montreal Star. Weekend Magazine. 56 pages. Volume 17, Number 16. April 22, 1967.

  • Montreal '67. Volume 4, Number 4, May. 32 pages. Published by the City of Montreal.

    

   
 

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