Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Farm to Market (1958)


This clip from the May 14, 1958 Disneyland TV episode, "Magic Highway, U.S.A." depicts the high-speed freightways of the future. Simplicity and efficiency reign supreme in this streamlined future of yesteryear.



These non-stop farm-to-market freightways will bring remote agricultural areas to within minutes of metropolitan markets. At transfer points within the city, individual units automatically separate from the truck-train for immediate delivery to shopping centers.





See also:
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
Superfarm of the Year 2020 (1979)
Delicious Waste Liquids of the Future (1982)
Robot Farms (1982)

6 comments:

Kedamono said...

What a vision of the future! Automated cargo trains and cargo rockets. Of course you don't see any human transportation in this clip, it's all dedicated to infrastructure and shipping.

The vision of a cargo unit turning into a a two story produce display is just insane. The unit would have to be scrubbed clean before being pulled into place and most stores have their own way to display produce.

But still, a high tech farmers market is a keen idea.

Arkonbey said...

Factory farms, however cool-looking, always give me the heebie-jeebies. Of, course, I'm lucky enough to live in a rural area and can buy direct...

Anonymous said...

What is interesting is that they seemed to have anticipated the concept of cargo containers that could easily be stacked/transported by truck, rail, or ship.

Anonymous said...

Shipping containers transportable by sea, road, and rail were already in use by 1958 (see Wikipedia, which dates the start of the U.S. container shipping industry to 1956).

J at IHB and HFF said...

Hello. I agree that the main idea was an extrapolation of existing containerization.

I like this site.

Anonymous said...

this site has cool posts. paleo-future rules!