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Then and Now: Getting to Expo ‘74

1974: A banner reading “51” is displayed on the top of the historic Clocktower left over from the Great Northern Railway depot, indicating that less than two months are left until the opening of Expo ’74 on May 4. The massive vinyl canopy of the U.S. Pavilion is being placed around cable netting of the superstructure, among many different last-minute preparations for the world’s fair. (Spokesman-Review Photo Archives)
1974: A banner reading “51” is displayed on the top of the historic Clocktower left over from the Great Northern Railway depot, indicating that less than two months are left until the opening of Expo ’74 on May 4. The massive vinyl canopy of the U.S. Pavilion is being placed around cable netting of the superstructure, among many different last-minute preparations for the world’s fair. (Spokesman-Review Photo Archives)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

Al Hunter, travel director of the Washington State Department of Commerce and Economic Development, said the 1974 world’s fair would be a major travel attraction for Washington, and an estimated 5 million visitors would find their way to Spokane by riding buses, trains, airplanes and private cars in spite of the uncertainties of gasoline shortages of that era.

On Jan. 18, 1974, U.S. Sen. Warren G. Magnuson told the Spokane Chamber of Commerce that a special daily round-trip train between Spokane and Seattle would be added during the fair.

Magnuson hoped it would be a “turbo train,” an experimental high-speed train being tested in Canada, saying that a turbo-train would act symbolically and would be an ideal vehicle to add glamour to the fair. It was important that Expo include a practical exhibit in the efficient mass movement of people, he said.

In July 1974, passenger traffic at Spokane International Airport set a record, exceeding the previous July level by 44%.

On the local scene, R.W. Harder, manager of the Spokane Transit System, said thousands of visitors in private automobiles would negate the environmental theme of the fair. Harder said the STS, a predecessor of today’s Spokane Transit Authority, had 30 of the system’s 90 buses air-conditioned and 18 more would be added in June. There would be shuttles from satellite parking lots, at the Spokane Coliseum, Holy Family Hospital, Five Mile Shopping Center and near the freeway at Pines and Sullivan roads in Spokane Valley.

The bus service would offer a $60 unlimited, seven-month pass that would cover the entire run of the fair.

To stimulate interest in using the bus system during Expo, all rides were free on the Spokane Transit System’s buses Wednesday, May 1. On the opening day on Saturday, the STS set a record, operating 87 buses to transport 40,000 passengers in one day. One bus was so overloaded, according to Councilman Jack M. O’Brien Jr., that it couldn’t travel up Stevens Street to the South Hill, and passengers were asked by a driver to get out and walk to the top of the hill before boarding again.

Planners predicted that traffic would be snarled by the closing of Spokane Falls Boulevard and the Washington and Stevens couplet to traffic on opening day, partly because of security for President Richard Nixon’s participation in opening ceremonies.