This Esso city map of Montreal provides an overview of the 1967 exposition. The entire map is approximately sixty centimeters long and forty-five centimeters wide, while the image on our site takes up approximately one sixth of that space. Although the islands on the map are drawn to scale, the buildings depicted on the map are oversized for emphasis, and only the major Expo pavilions are depicted. The map is relatively easy to read. The Montreal expo of 1967 was spread out over four sections in the Saint Lawrence River: The Cité du Havre, Ile Sainte-Hélène, Ile Notre Dâme, and La Ronde .

In his book Terre des Hommes (1939, translated as Man and His World), Antoine de St. Exupéry wrote that "to be a man is to feel that through one's own contribution, one helps to build the world." This is the quote that inspired the theme for the Montreal exposition, also named Man and His World, after the novel's title. The 1967 exposition was supposed to take place in the USSR, on the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Although permission was given to the Soviets in 1960, they backed out in 1962. Jean Drapeau, Montreal's ambitious mayor, proposed that the fair be held in his city. A site was selected on the St. Lawrence River in order to avoid the costly expropriation of land. Only the Ile Sainte-Hélène and Mackay Pier, where the Cité du Havre would be located, existed originally; the other islands had to be built. The Ile Notre Dâme was built out of mudflats, and the Ile Sainte-Hélène was extended to make room for La Ronde. These modifications in infrastructure expanded the fair's size to 1000 acres.

Originally, the Expo planners wanted countries to exhibit within "theme" pavilions, instead of in their wn national pavilions. This would allow for more effective international coverage on specified issues, but Expo policy makers rejected the scheme as they felt that nations might not be receptive. Still, the Expo planners wanted to limit the types of pavilions at the fair, of which there were only five: national, theme, or commercial pavilions, and commercial or service structures. National pavilions were those built to represent a country. Theme pavilions tied in with the theme of the expo and St. Exupéry's book, bearing names like 'Man the Explorer' or 'Man the Producer'. They were supposed to be significantly larger than any other fair buildings, and would be surrounded by clusters of smaller pavilions. However, according to the Architects' Journal, budget cuts were responsible for less impressive theme pavilions than first intended. Commercial pavilions were built by companies to represent themselves and included shops or restaurants.

Transportation was carried out in several innovative ways. The Expo Express, visible on the map as a brown line, consisted in electric trains traveling at twenty-five miles per hour that linked extreme ends of the exposition, connecting the Cité du Havre to La Ronde. Supplementing the Expo Express, the three elevated loops of minirails traveled about ten miles an hour. They allowed people to view exhibits in detail, and were designed to distribute visitors from congestion points such as the metro and Expo Express stations to extremities of the site. The trackless trailer train served the same purpose as the minirail, except it was used for less crowded areas. On the Ile Notre Dâme there were also canal boats.

The Cité du Havre is indicated on the map in purple. The circular structure northwest of the Cité was the Autostade, a stadium built to remain in Montreal after the fair (it is still in existence). It had seats for 25,000 spectators and cost Canada three million Canadian dollars to build. The Habitat housing development was also built as a permanent structure in Cité du Havre. It is located on the eastern end of the island and is represented on the map by a zig zag-like outline. The goal of Habitat was to provide urban, middle-income housing combining high quality and medium density. Habitat was to be built on a 100 foot long, 220-300 feet wide expanse of space. It was conceived originally as an upside down pyramid, but the layout of the streets conflicted with that design. A right side up pyramid design was used instead, with clusters of block-like housing units stacked on top of each other. The housing units were built using pre-stressed concrete, with the floor of one unit forming the roof of another. Habitat managed to increase wildly in cost, until at the end it became luxury housing. Today, it has become a unique and desirable place of residence. In addition, 'Man the Creator' was one of the theme pavilions located in this section of the fair. It showcased exhibitions of fine arts, contemporary sculpture, photography, and industrial design. It is used today as an art gallery. Located directly to the left of Habitat, the other theme pavilions in this area were 'Man and his Health' and 'Man in the Community', which showed a film prepared by the National Film Board of Canada, presented in a multi-screened, multi-chambered concrete building.

The Ile Sainte Hélène is the light green area on the map, in the middle of the river. One of its most prominent buildings was the United States national pavilion, represented by the circle at the southeast corner of the colored section. It was nicknamed "Bucky's Bubble", after its designer Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). Its dome was covered in transparent materials and was particularly spectacular at night, when the exhibits were completely visible from the outside. A minirail ran through the pavilion, offering riders a glimpse at the exhibits inside. The Place des Nations, where the opening ceremony and other important events were held during the exposition, was located at the westernmost tip of the island, which also housed pavilions for Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Two U.S. states were also represented: New York and Maine. The theme pavilion on Ile Sainte Hélène was entitled 'Man the Explorer', and showcased exhibits about the conquest of space and the polar regions.

The Ile Notre Dame, the yellow section near the bottom of the map, housed several interesting buildings. The USSR pavilion, whose design was directed by Michael Posochin, was located across the river from that of the United States and achieved a similar degree of transparency. Designed by the architect Rolf Gutbrod and structural engineer Frei Otto, the German pavilion was located at the southern end of the island, nestled on the map in a corner of the Expo Express tracks. Covering an expanse of 80,000 square feet and supported strategically by eight steel masts, it was a huge tent-like structure in steel mesh and translucent plastic. The masts themselves were held in place by the tension from the steel rope netting. To the left of the German pavilion, that of Britain, designed by Sir Basil Spencer, had a cliff-like podium surrounded almost completely by water. The tower featured a stylized Union Jack, which was highlighted at night. Other pavilions on this island were those of Italy, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and Venezuela, the United Nations and Canadian National Railroad Company, and a structure known as Kaleidoscope that was built by six chemical companies. There were also two theme pavilions, 'Man the Producer', located in the middle of the island, above the German pavilion, and 'Man the Provider', at the eastern tip of the section.

The fair opened on April 17th, 1967 and attracted over fifty million people. Although only a few dozen of the fair's ninety pavilions are depicted on the map, the image still does a good job of representing the fair and its ideals.

-Ly Y. Bui

Author unknown, "The Architect's Expo", Progressive Architecture 1967 June vol.48, p.126-127

Author unknown, "Behind the Scenes at Expo", Architectural and Engineering News 1967 April vol.9, p.108-109

Author unknown, "Expo '67", Architects' Journal 1967 June 7 vol.145, whole issue

Author unknown, "Expo '67: Revisited", Architecture Canada 1967 August vol.44, p.25-44

Danzig, Philip, "A&E News Goes to Expo '67", Architectural and Engineering News 1967 June vol.9, p.24-26

Findling, John E., Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988 New York: Greenwood Press, 1990 Komendant, August, "Post-Modern on Habitat", Progressive Architecture 1968 March vol.49, p.138-147

Miller, Jerry, "Expo '67: Search for Order", Canadian Architect 1967 May vol.12, p.44-54

Prus, Victor, "Expo 67 Stadium", Architectural Design 1967 April vol.37, p.171-173

Richards, J.M., "Expo 67", Architectural Review 1967 August, whole issue

Rogatnick, Abraham, "Expo 67, The Past Recaptured", Lotus 1968 vol.5, p.12-33

Schwanzer, Karl, "Geometric Representation of Austria's Pavilion at Expo '67", Architect and Building News 1968 June 19 vol.233, p.936-939 Montreal 1967, map

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This map is taken from the Official Souvenir book of Expo '67, sold for one dollar at the fair grounds. This book advertises "three-dimensional maps in color", and depicts the various sections of the fair. Its dimensions are about eight and a half by eleven inches. The image on our website is actually the middle portion of a map formed by the two middle pages of the book, and depicts most of La Ronde district.

La Ronde constituted the easternmost part of the Montreal exposition site, and was devoted primarily to amusement. This section was designed by a team including Joe Baker, an architect, Norman Slater, an industrial designer and light specialist, Francois Dallegret, a special effects designer, and Leonard Levitan. They were given 135 acres of man made land that had been formed as an extension of the Ile Sainte-Hélène. They had only four years to design an amusement center that would be used both during and after the exposition. A small island of granite, rising ten feet above the St. Lawrence River, was actually destroyed so that La Ronde could be created. The granite was blasted away, leaving a perimeter of rock, which was than surrounded by fill. The crater made by the explosion became Dolphin Lake, the body of water towards the north and center of the map.

The main entrance to La Ronde was an Expo Express stop (number 513 on the map), which arrived at the Esplanade, an open area towards the left and center of the map. Expo Express was a monorail set up especially for the fair. From there crowds could either go north to get to the Dolphin pool (511), Aquarium (512), and Pioneerland (524). They could also travel south to Children's World (528) and the Youth Pavilion (529). To reach all the other activities, visitors would go east through the Mall, the narrow strip of land bisecting the map into two sections. In Pioneerland, there was also an exhibit sponsored by the province of Alberta, called Fort Edmonton, that showed a "traditional" western setting that included such stereotypical spectacles as action-packed saloons and barber shops. At the dolphin pool, trained dolphins performed tricks to a crowd of up to 900 people. The aquarium was designed by architect George F. Ever to exhibit marine life.

At the southwest corner of the map, in addition to Children's world and the Youth Pavilion, stood the Gyrotron (535). According to many architectural critics, this was the only building of even slight architectural interest in La Ronde. It was designed by the architect Sean Kinny, and was comprised of a large pyramid connected to a smaller one. The former showcased a simulated flight through space with planets, space ships, and astronauts, while the latter showed a descent into hell, where the visitor was swallowed by a mechanical monster.

Transportation was provided via pedicabs, the "Sky Ride", and the "Minirail,". a train circuit through all the major parts of La Ronde, and its major stations are marked on the map (515, 543). The Sky Ride (519) was a gondola traveling over Dolphin lake, as can be seen in the southeast corner of the lake on the map, and ended near Le Village. It offered aerial panoramic views of the site, along with La Spirale (547), a rotating tower that took passengers up to a height of 312 feet, located between Dolphin Lake and the marina of Port Sainte-Hélène. To the immediate right of La Spirale was the Garden of Stars (545), designed by architect Max Roth. The building was created to provide a wide range of entertainment, including cinema or live performance. Le Village (541), in the northeast section of the island, was close to the end destination of the Sky Ride. It was inspired by Old Montreal, and was full of beer halls and restaurants. The buildings had stone walls, and they were gathered around quaint little plazas. There was also an old-fashioned carousel. The safari (550) was directly to the east of Le Village, and featured an array of exotic animals. The area past the marina was cut off from the map and offered little in the way of entertainment and amusement. There were facilities for hovercraft and helicopter entry, though few visitors arrived at this way. There was also a meteorological station that was not open to the public.

La Ronde was decorated with wind-lown flags, pin wheels, rotating units, and windsocks to promote a sense of brightness and gaiety. Even the kiosks, designed with eye-atching simple volumes, were brightly colored. Many booths were painted in day-glo colors. Some of those selling tickets were decorated with aluminum skins and antennae lights.

Several other aspects of La Ronde are worth mentioning. The Westinghouse company built a massive fountain called The Dancing Waters (530), located in the middle of Dolphin Lake. Visitors could see the display from the sides of the lake or from the Sky Ride. There was also a water ride known as "La Pitoune" (525), at the southwest corner of the Lake and, near the Gyrotron, towards the bottom of the map, a rides center (533), where the traditional amusement rides such as a Ferris Wheel and roller coasters could be found.

Today, La Ronde is an operating park with thirty-two different rides, most of them installed after the fair. Like any typical carnival or amusement park, there are children's rides as well as roller coasters. The Sky Ride is no longer accessible to the public, although the machinery is still there. La Spirale and the minirail are still in operation. Le Village has become a "medieval" village, with a "period" putt putt and a variety of restaurants. All the other amusements present at the Expo have been removed from the park. At the end of 2000 La Ronde was acquired by the Six Flags corporation, and it will probably go through many more transformations in the years to come.

-Ly Y. Bui

Author unknown, "The Architect's Expo", Progressive Architecture 1967 June vol.48, p.126-127

Author unknown, "Behind the Scenes at Expo", Architectural and Engineering News 1967 April vol.9, p.108-109

Author unknown, "Lighting La Ronde", Canadian Architect 1968 June vol.13, p.70-76

Danzig, Philip, "A&E News Goes to Expo '67", Architectural and Engineering News 1967 June vol.9, p.24-26

Findling, John E., Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988 New York: Greenwood Press, 1990

Miller, Jerry, "Expo '67: Search for Order", Canadian Architect 1967 May vol.12, p.44-54

Richard, J.M., "Expo 67", Architectural Review 1967 August, whole issue

Rogatnick, Abraham, "Expo 67, The Past Recaptured",Lotus 1968 vol.5, p.12-33

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