Night and Day Differences at the 1893 World’s Fair

The October 2019 release of the film The Current War will offer many people their first view of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A recent trailer offered a tantalizing peak at how the special effects team has recreated the White City.

In an attempt to provide some historical background, BBC History recently published an article on the “real history” of the World’s Fair in Chicago that included this description of the Opening Ceremony:

“Grover Cleveland had one of the more straightforward tasks of his presidency on the evening of 1 May 1893. After saying a few words to the crowd, he pushed a gold button and hundreds of thousands of lightbulbs buzzed into life. It may not sound like much today, but no one had ever seen such a display of electrical power as the spectacle he switched on. The lights coruscated over the grand lake and illuminated the neoclassical buildings purpose-built for the occasion, while multi-coloured searchlights pierced the sky.”

That may be what the film will show, but that’s not what happened. We are left wondering if the six-hour time difference between Chicago and London has confused the BBC.

The Opening Day Ceremony on May 1, 1893, began in the morning, and President Cleveland pushed the golden key at approximately noon. His signal did initiate a great transformation scene powered by nearby electric dynamos that breathed life into fountains and flags. The thousands of lightbulbs ornamenting the buildings, however, did not buzz to life. It was noon, not night.

The illumination of the White City was a separate spectacle that occurred many hours later, as described in this passage from the Chicago Daily Tribune (“Buildings Brightly Lighted” May 2, 1893, p. 5):

“After it was sufficiently dark for the full beauty of the illumination to be seen, the order was given in Machinery Hall and the switches were turned for every circuit in the Administration Building. There was a blaze of light which shot up to the heavens and was mirrored back into the waters of the lagoon and basin and from the white sides of the neighboring buildings.”

Filmmakers for The Current War, working to create a dramatic effect, may have good reason to change history and move the Opening Ceremony to a nighttime setting. The venerable BBC, however, should not confuse the fiction of a film trailer with the historical record.