Q. Where did Midway Road get its name?

A. Though it is a northern boundary of PSL, Midway Road was created in 1893 as the main street of White City, an unincorporated area of St. Lucie County. At the core of the World's Fair that year inChicago was an area that quickly became known as the White City for its buildings with white stucco siding and its streets illuminated by electric lights. A major attraction of that fair was the Midway Plaisance, which housed exhibits, entertainment and rides. Thereafter, many other fairs called their areas of sideshows, games of chance or skill, or other amusements the "midway."
According to the Chicago Historical Society, some planners of the World's Columbian Exposition envisioned the Midway portion of the Fair as a lesson in ethnography and human development. The villages created in the Midway were supposed to provide visitors with glimpses of "primitive" cultures, in contrast with "civilization" as presented in the White City. Most visitors, however, went to the Midway not for its alleged anthropological insights, but for entertainment (including "Little Egypt") and shopping, enticed by the Ferris Wheel and other attractions and concessions.