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New Orleans, Louisiana,
USA


Opened:
12 May 1984

Closed:
11 November 1984

Theme:
"The World of Rivers - Fresh Water as a Source of Life"

Site:
along the banks
of the Mississippi
River adjacent
to the French
Quarter in what
is now Riverwalk

Participating
Countries:
26

Attendance:
7,335,279


Plagued with attendance problems, the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition has the distinction of being the only exposition that has declared bankruptcy during its run. Many blamed the low attendance on the fact that it was staged just two years after Knoxville's 1982 World's Fair just two states away.

Despite its problems, it is fondly remembered by many New Orleans residents and noteworthy architecturally for the groundbreaking post-modern Wonderwall designed by Charles Moore and William Turnball.

 

Postcard showing a model of the Wonderwall
 

LINKS:
Images of the Month Gallery: October 1999 - from the New Orleans Public Library
Riverwalk - legacy site
A World's Fair to Remember - documentary from WYES
The Shuttle at the 1984 World's Fair - from the Kennedy Space Center
World's Fair Photos - photos for sale on CD
1984 World's Fair sparked surge in New Orleans conventions, tourism - New Orleans CityBusiness
1984 Louisiana World Exposition's last minute permit approval added - New Orleans CityBusiness
Looking Back: The Wonder of the 1984 World's Fair: Photography by Joshua Mann Pailet - from the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
New Orleans World's Fairs - about both 1884 and 1984, from Tulane University
Facts and Trivia - from Earth Station 9
New Orleans Reaches its Goal of $26 Million for 1984 World's Fair - New York Times, 9 April 1981
World's Fair - 1984 - photos from Webshots Travel

 
 
 
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Copyright 1998-2009, Urso Chappell