Chicago’s Day of Days

May 1, 1893

The day of days had arrived in Chicago. After winning the bid to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, months of searching to select Jackson Park as the site of the fairgrounds, the death of the lead architect, two years of constructing a White City on the shores of Lake Michigan, damaging winter storms, delays and setbacks, and a Dedication Day ceremony the previous October… Chicago was ready to open her doors to the world.

To say that the Opening Day ceremony was the most spectacular event that most of the quarter-million visitors had ever witnessed is not hyperbole. “It was not only the supreme moment in the history of the land and the west, but the moment of moments in the lives of a vast majority of the beholders,” wrote the Chicago Herald. “It was the most beautiful spectacle which man has ever created to please his own sensibilities or satisfy his vanity.”

In the coming days, we will revisit Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Fair in a series of feature stories. Beginning with “Morning on the Fairgrounds” (Part 1), each installment brings us closer to the supreme moment when President Grover Cleveland pressed the golden key that started the engines powering “The Great Transformation Scene” (Part 10, on May 1). Along the way, we’ll view “The Presidential Procession to the Fairgrounds” (Part 2), watch “A Sea of Humanity” (Part 3) pour into Jackson Park, hear the music and speeches from the Opening Ceremony program (Parts 4-9), and then follow the president as he lunches with dignitaries and tours the great exhibition (Parts 11-12).

Other events of May 1, such at the ceremony to open the Woman’s Building and dedications of other buildings, will be reviewed at a later time.

A note on sources

This original review draws from a variety of newspaper reports of the Opening Ceremonies and retains the original accounts of events as much as possible. The exuberance of reporters’ descriptions of the Opening Day spectacle is infectious. However, passages and phrases from different sources are combined to form a continuous narrative of events. The collective sources are provided at the end of each installment, but not cited within passages. We are happy to provide specific quotes with sources to interested readers.

Light editing has altered the original newspaper writing style to avoid excessive passive voice and run-on sentences. Expressions that are offensive by today’s standards are removed, and passages that may be culturally insensitive are offered in quotes to indicate that the statement comes from a journalist of 1893.

On some points, different contemporary sources report directly conflicting statements. This is especially true regarding the times of various events in the day. (“At 9 o’clock sharp” reports one paper, while another insists it was “shortly after 9:30”). Reporter’s estimates of crowd sizes vary widely, and their penchant for poking fun at Mayor Carter Harrison may occasionally veer into fabricated stories to entertain their readers.

Corrections and additions

We welcome your general thoughts as well as any factual corrections or suggestions you may have to improve this record of the Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Fair. Installments will carry notices of any corrections made.

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SOURCES
“Epoch in History” Chicago Herald May 2, 1893, p. 1.