50 years ago in Expo history: The fair may have left a deficit, but it wasn’t as bad as it sounded

Expo ’74 general manager Petr Spurney acknowledged for the first time that “it’s becoming more and more evident that a deficit will be experienced.”

This sounded alarming, but it came with a few qualifications.

This deficit appeared to be a small one. It was a deficit on an $800,000 loan that Expo took out from a bank as seed money. A group of “guarantors” had pledged $1.3 million as collateral for that loan. If Expo were unable to pay back the full $800,000, the banks would call the guarantors and collect the rest.

This would have no effect on holders of Expo’s revenue bonds, who would still get their money back plus about 7.2% interest.

Spurney called the possible deficit “insignificant” when weighed against the $3.7 million in tax revenue generated by Expo and the estimated $699 million in economic impact over a 10-year period.

From 100 years ago: Lucy Martz, a schoolgirl, was elected principal of Longfellow School – but for one afternoon only.

The actual principal was turning the running of the school over to the girls as part of Education Week. All of the teachers that Friday afternoon would also be schoolgirls, elected by their classmates.

The principal said the purpose was to “give them training in conducting affairs of this kind on their own initiative.” The boys had their own day in spring.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1805: The Lewis and Clark expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, reaches the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.