Night scene at the 1939 New York World's Fair

Back in June 2012 I featured five black-and-white souvenir photos from 1939 New York World's Fair. Here's one more from that same set. (I cropped the white edges from the 4½-inch-wide photograph, so that you could see more of the image. You can also click on the image to see a magnified version.)

This photograph, like the others, was taken by Underwood & Underwood. The caption states: "Night Scene - Constitutional Mall - N.Y.W.F."

Wondering about that huge sculpture in the distance? It's George Washington. The Queens Library's Tumblr page has a color photograph of Constitutional Mall at night, and adds this information:

"The Valley of Ashes in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby had disappeared by 1939 — Robert Moses transformed it into Flushing Meadows Park for the 1939 World’s Fair. This rare color photograph shows what the Constitutional Mall section of that fair looked like, lit up at night, a sculpture of George Washington silhouetted against the Perisphere."

More reading and photos

• The Statues of the Fair: "George Washington," sculpted by James Earle Fraser and John Quincy Ward
• New-York Historical Society blog: Paul Gillespie’s 1939 New York World’s Fair Collection
• The Atlantic: The 1939 New York World's Fair
• Paul M. Van Dort's www.1939nyworldsfair.com
• Wikipedia: 1939 New York World's Fair
• The World of Tomorrow: The 1939 New York World's Fair by Larry Zim, Mel Lerner and Herbert Rolfes