1952 Worldcon Site Selection

Site selection for the 1952 Worldcon was held at Nolacon in 1951. There were six bids to host it: Chicago in 1952, San Francisco in 1952, Niagara Falls in 1952, New York in 1952, Atlanta in 1952, and Detroit in 1952. Chicago won and went on to run Chicon II.

Science Fiction Newscope #13 ran a detailed report on the site selection session:

The afternoon session didn't get under way until after 3:00. Chicago, San Francisco, Niagara Falls (Canada), New York, Atlanta and Detroit placed bids in that order for the '52 con. Eshbach didn't think that the Detroiters were old enough to put on a con. Tucker said Chicon was put on by High-School agers. Santerson thought Frisco was too costly to go to and Judy Merrill said Frisco had sand-fleas. Evans wanted Detroit as a matter of principle. The first ballot cut like this:  Chicago 30, Atlanta:22; Detroit 16, San Francisco 16, Niagara Falls 11 and New York 3.

After two and a quarter hours the final ballot was taken with Chicago winning 59 to Atlanta's 36. This is the first time that a city will have a convention twice. Although Chad Oliver distributed cards for "The DripCon" (Dripping Springs, Texas), he didn't bid for it.

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1951

Site Selection

1953

1952

This is page about convention bidding, the competition and its outcome. Please extend it by adding information about who was bidding, and how the race went.