Wow Photo Wednesday

This week's "wow" photo shows the Western Pacific, Denver and Rio Grande, Missouri Pacific, and the Iron Mountain Railways "Scenic Lines of the World" exhibit at the Palace of Transportation at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, and is typical of the fantastic scenes designed to awe the throngs of visitors coming to that fabled event.

The 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California, was in part, the city's effort to show the world that they were coming back strong from the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906. Visionary exhibits beckoned spectators to a glittering future full of sparkling electric lights and idealized utopias with names like: The Tower of Jewels, Palace of Horticulture, Court of the Universe, Court of the Four Seasons and the Court of Abundance. Among the many spectacular constructions, besides this walk-in globe, was the Bernard Maybeck Palace of Fine Arts, which stands to this day and is a breathtaking example of Classical Revival architecture. A search for "exhibitions" results in over 200 fascinating examples of some of the things that made people go "Wow" in the old days.

"Wow Photo Wednesday" celebrates photographs in the Denver Public Library's Digital Collections that have "The Wow Factor" and that highlight the myriad delightful nuggets in our database.