Wednesday, September 19, 2018

INTERNATIONAL AMPHITHEATER


Posted by Chic Silber at 9/19/2018 12:32:00 AM

3 comments:

Chic Silber said...


That's a mighty steam boiler

19 September, 2018 09:50
Eric said...

The site of the 1934 International Amphitheatre was originally a racetrack called Dexter Park that had been built in 1867, shortly after the Union Stock Yard opened. (Even back then, the Union Stock Yard was a major tourist attraction!) When the International Live Stock Exhibition got started in 1900, the Stock Yard built an exhibition arena on the site of the old racetrack, which had burned down a year or so earlier. This first building was called Dexter Pavilion. Dexter Pavilion proved too small for the International Livestock Exposition, so a second building was built in 1905. It was called both the Dexter International Amphitheatre and the International Amphitheatre. Its show ring was 40 feet broader and 10 feet longer than the Chicago Coliseum ring on South Wabash Avenue. The Dexter International Amphitheatre burned down in the 1934 Stock Yard fire and was replaced by the second International Amphitheatre, which is shown here while it was under construction. It lasted until 1999 and was torn down to make way for an industrial park built on the site of the old Union Stock Yard.

19 September, 2018 12:00
Eric said...

In 1934, it only took 5 months to build the new International Amphitheatre. The old building was destroyed by fire on May 19, 1934. The new one was ready in time for the International Livestock Exhibition, which opened in late November.

19 September, 2018 12:49

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