The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-30

about this and that.
DALLAS. March 30.-ItT be
- more than three months be-
fore the Texas Centennial EXPOSE
ton at Dallas opens, but it's a real
show already.
1t was Sunday afternoon when
I had my eyes opened. The 200
acre tract was gashed and piled in
mounds like a no-man's land. Steam
shovels and riveting machines and
trucks were roaring all over the
place. More than 1000 men land
that's just one shift were at work.
FloodlightS hung from high poles,
for the work goes on day and night.
Naked steel framework stood up red
against the Texas sky. Half-fin-
ished, sprawling brick buildings
rose out of the brownish clay. High
towers, with long booms, swung
huge cement pilings into place.
THE grounds are just few min
- utes' drive from downtown
Dallas. They are the old State
Playground, much enlarged. They
are immense.
If you could take a square mile,
and saw it in two, from. one corner
to the other, you'd have the Gen.
tennial grounds. There are already
lot of buildings there; old build
ings, that have been there for years.
Some of these will be torn down;
others will be remodeled.
The main entrance is to be at
the small end Of the triangle. Let's
pretend we're going to the Fair
right now.
We go in through a great grove
of trees. Off to the left, in one
corner, is a big white building. We
can't get in there, for that's the
administration building, where the
200 men with brains are directing
the fair.
TITO the right is the auditorium.
- 1t was already there, but they're
remodeling it.
And stretching out right in front
Of us is a big ditch, a couple of
blocks long. In a few months it'll
be a beautiful rejecting pool, with
grassy banks, and sidewalks, and
fountains. and colored lights on the
bottom-the creme de creme of the
exposition. Two immense buildings
Gust being finished now flank the
pool on either side. -fa
From there on down, for nearly a
! mile, the grounds widen out, and
scores of buildings are taking form.
Some are finished outside. Some are
half finished. Many others have
not been started.
AS we move along, the heavier
stuff will be on the left-the live
stock shows, poultry, foods, and so r
on.
DEYOND the Texas Building is
- the stadium (already there. 1t
is an oval, banked high around the
outside with earth, and it holds
$4,000 people. -a
And just beyond it, at the far
end of the grounds, is the race track.
1t was already there, too. The
grand stand is enlarged, and in the
center of the track they'll build a
stage 300 feet long, with a river
running in front of it, and on this
stage, three times day, they'll pre-
sent a pageant that is to give the
whole history of Texas. 80
We still have left the big empty
corner over at the right, where the
grounds widen out. Well, this is
probably where the crowds will en-
ter. It's the Midway, the froth of
all world fairs.
This side of the Midway wind
ing lagoon will be built, and around
it will be an amphitheater, and an
elaborate structure by the Federal
government, a Negro building (the
first at any great exposition), res
taurantS and concessions.
|
MYTH few minor exceptions,
W every new building is a solid,
permanent thing. For the whole
grounds have been acquired by the
city and state, and will be used after
the Exposition as very much en-
larged and elaborated State Fair
Grounds.
The Centennial still is in pretty
raw state. But when you think of
1000 men at work Gt'll soon go up to
5000, and see the trucks roaring and
snorting, and see the administra-
tive staff all at their desks on a
Sunday afternoon, you guess they'll
be ready for America to come pour
ing in by June 6.