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making public dirigible exhibitions, that it was not enough to go where a fair or carnival was to be held and suggest airplane flights as a feature. To get all the business possible for the Wright Company, he must promote exhibition flights in places where no such big outdoor events were yet contemplated. He particularly desired to have flights made in large cities where newspaper reports of the event would attract attention over a wide area and aid him in making further bookings. With this in mind, he went to Chicago and made inquiries as to whether public-spirited citizens there would be willing to under-write a big public demonstration of aviation along the lake front. He was directed to see Harold McCormick, but didn't get past his secretary. Discouraged, he decided to approach the newspapers. He recalled that H. H. Kohlsaat, owner of the Chicago "Record-Herald" had known his father. This opened the door and the newspaper agreed to sponsor the demonstration flights along the lake front in late September.

Before this Chicago exhibition took place, Orville Wright made a historic flight from Sims Station over the city of Dayton on September 22, 1910, during a local industrial exhibit. The flight was witnessed by thousands of Daimonians.

During the Chicago exhibition by the Wright team a great deal of interest was generated and as a result Knabenshue arranged with Harold McCormick that a committee of prominent Chicagoans would sponsor the largest aviation meet ever held in Chicago in 1911. Meanwhile, on September 29, on the final day of the 1910 meet, Brookins made the first long cross-country flight, a distance of 192 1/2 miles from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois. However, it was not a non-stop

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