Could it possibly have been the transportation of tomorrow? … An elevated train suspended from an iron rail and traveling along 4,000 feet of tracks throughout the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.
The monorail “might be the hope of the harried commuter,” a New York newspaper reported of the unique rail system that was providing passengers a bird’s eye view of the fair.
Not to be outdone by this futuristic attraction in the Big Apple in 1964, Oklahoma City set its sights on a monorail of its own for the State Fair of Oklahoma that same year.
With 6,300 feet of track, the State Fair of Oklahoma’s new monorail system would be the “longest in the Western Hemisphere” and travel 22 to 25 feet above fairgoers’ heads. It was described as a “dream come true” for state fair manager Sandy Saunders in a May 13, 1964, story in The Daily Oklahoman that described the future path of the elevated train:
The route will run north from the grandstand, then east of the science and arts museum, east and north of the art center and south of the 4-H and [FFA] buildings.