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1933 1c Restoration of Fort Dearborn, Yellow Green
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U.S. #728
1933 1¢ Restoration of Fort Dearborn
Issue Date: May 25, 1933
First City: Chicago, IL
Quantity Issued: 348,266,800
Issued on May 25, 1933 — just days before the fair opened — this 1-cent stamp was one of three designs produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to promote the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago. The exposition marked the 100th anniversary of Chicago's incorporation as a town, and the city had been planning it since 1928 through a nonprofit organization called A Century of Progress. The stamp's design depicts Fort Dearborn, the original army outpost built in 1803 at the mouth of the Chicago River and named for Henry Dearborn, then Secretary of War. A replica of the fort was built as a popular attraction at the fair itself, making the stamp and the exhibit a matched pair. The Fort Dearborn stamp was issued at the 1-cent postcard rate, while a companion 3-cent stamp depicting the fair's Federal Building served the standard letter rate.
The original Fort Dearborn had a turbulent history. It was destroyed following the Battle of Fort Dearborn during the War of 1812, when a force of Potawatomi warriors attacked a column of evacuating soldiers and civilians on August 15, 1812, in one of the bloodiest engagements of that war on American soil. A second fort was built on the same site in 1816 — the restored fort depicted on this stamp. By 1837 it had been decommissioned, and what remained was lost over the following decades to river widening, fire, and finally the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The site is today a Chicago landmark in the Michigan-Wacker Historic District.
The Century of Progress issue also has an interesting side story. The Post Office issued souvenir sheets of the same designs at the American Philatelic Society convention held in Chicago in August 1933, printed on-site at the fair in un-gummed imperforate format. Postmaster General James Farley again distributed special printings to associates — continuing the pattern that would later become known as "Farley's Follies."
U.S. #728
1933 1¢ Restoration of Fort Dearborn
Issue Date: May 25, 1933
First City: Chicago, IL
Quantity Issued: 348,266,800
Issued on May 25, 1933 — just days before the fair opened — this 1-cent stamp was one of three designs produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to promote the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago. The exposition marked the 100th anniversary of Chicago's incorporation as a town, and the city had been planning it since 1928 through a nonprofit organization called A Century of Progress. The stamp's design depicts Fort Dearborn, the original army outpost built in 1803 at the mouth of the Chicago River and named for Henry Dearborn, then Secretary of War. A replica of the fort was built as a popular attraction at the fair itself, making the stamp and the exhibit a matched pair. The Fort Dearborn stamp was issued at the 1-cent postcard rate, while a companion 3-cent stamp depicting the fair's Federal Building served the standard letter rate.
The original Fort Dearborn had a turbulent history. It was destroyed following the Battle of Fort Dearborn during the War of 1812, when a force of Potawatomi warriors attacked a column of evacuating soldiers and civilians on August 15, 1812, in one of the bloodiest engagements of that war on American soil. A second fort was built on the same site in 1816 — the restored fort depicted on this stamp. By 1837 it had been decommissioned, and what remained was lost over the following decades to river widening, fire, and finally the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The site is today a Chicago landmark in the Michigan-Wacker Historic District.
The Century of Progress issue also has an interesting side story. The Post Office issued souvenir sheets of the same designs at the American Philatelic Society convention held in Chicago in August 1933, printed on-site at the fair in un-gummed imperforate format. Postmaster General James Farley again distributed special printings to associates — continuing the pattern that would later become known as "Farley's Follies."
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