October 30, 1893 was Closing Day of the World’s Columbian Exposition.
“The end came at sunset. The great Columbian Exposition faded as quietly and sadly as an autumn day, and when the belching cannon had sent a score of shots to heaven and pelted the domes and pinnacles with a million echoes the giant had died.”
–from “End of an Epoch” The Chicago Herald, October 31, 1893, p.1