“History is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be
In the greatest city in the world!”
–“The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton
The White City of the World’s Columbian Exposition was the undeniable center of the world for six months in 1893, but it was also a theatrical illusion — a Dream City. Behind the scenes, a famous rivalry played out between the real cities of Chicago and New York to lay claim to title of the greatest city in the country. “If Chicago could construct the White City as an elaborate theme park, why couldn’t New York build the White City for real?” asks James Nevius in a recent New York Post article “How Chicago almost stole New York’s title of America’s greatest city.”
In his brief history of this rivalry, Nevius reviews the reactions by the New York press to Chicago’s winning bid to host the 1893 World’s Fair, highlights landmark New York architecture built after the Fair, and describes the emergence of “Skyscraper National Park” … all while Chicago remained the Second City. By 1939, New York had a World’s Fair of their own.
As an Empire State native, I’m accustomed to New Yorker pride and Big Apple bragging. His final note, though, took the cheesecake: “So while Chicagoans chew on what they call a pizza, New Yorkers can rest secure in the knowledge that while we might have lost out hosting that 1893 World’s Fair, we took home the real prize: greatest city in the country.”
