240

World

’

s Fair Key

During the 1933 Chicago

“

A Century of Progress

”

fair, the

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company gave out a key with

a corkscrew inside the sheath.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company is headquartered in

Oak Brook, Illinois. The company is the largest dredging

contractor in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world

The company was established in 1890 as the partnership of

William A. Lydon & Fred C. Drews. Lydon

& Drews

‟

first project was construction of a

brick-lined water tunnel for Chicago that

extended beneath the bottom of Lake

Michigan from the shore at Chicago

Avenue to a new intake crib two miles out

in Lake Michigan. Tremendous expansion

followed in the 1890s, as cities on the Great

Lakes flourished. Projects at the time

included many piers, lighthouses, and

harbor facilities at cities throughout the

Great Lakes, and the shoreline structures

for Chicago

‟

s Colombian Exposition in

1892, including the foundations for what

later came to be known as Navy Pier.