THE CITY OF WONDERS

A Souvenir of the World’s Fair.

BY

MARY CATHERINE CROWLEY

INTRODUCTION

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 spawned a new category of “fair fiction” literature. For more than 125 years, writers have been setting stories in the White City, Midway Plaisance, and nearby streets of the host city of Chicago in sub-genres ranging from romance to murder mystery.

Around the time of the Exposition, children’s literature contributed to the fair fiction bookshelf with titles such as Samantha at the Fair by Marietta Holley (Funk & Wagnalls, 1893), The Century World’s Fair Book for Boys and Girls, Being the Adventures of Harry and Philip with Their Tutor, Mr. Douglas, at the World’s Columbian Exposition by Tudor Jenks (The Century Co., 1893), Two Little Pilgrims Progress by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895), and Journeys in the White City by Hezekiah Zigzag Butterworth (Estes and Lauriat, 1894) among others. The bookshelf of World’s Fair stories for children continues to grow today.

The City of Wonders (1894) is a quaint story about the children visiting the great fair coming from the pen of Mary Catherine Crowley (1856-1920). A Boston native living in Detroit in 1893, Crowley already had authored numerous works including Merry Hearts and True (1889), Happy-Go-Lucky and Other Stories (1889), An Every-Day Girl (1890), Tramp and Trinkets Abroad, and Other Stories (1892), and Apples Ripe and Rosy, Sir (1893).

Later in life, Crowley lectured extensively on topics of art and literature, published several more novels through 1906, and became editor of Catholic Missions Magazine in 1907. Her short stories and poetry found a home in the pages of several prestigious publications of the era, such as St. Nicholas, the Youth’s Companion, and the Ladies’ Home Journal. She also wrote for the Boston Globe, sometimes under the pen name of Janet Grant. Crowley’s history of Detroit become among her most significant and lasting works.

Crowley’s story of a trip to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was serialized as “Sight-Seeing at the World’s Fair” in the Catholic magazine The Ave Maria (Notre Dame, Ind.) beginning weekly on August 5, 1893. Later, the chapters were collected into the volume The City of Wonders, published by the Wm. Graham Company of Detroit in 1894. The handsome volume with a decorative embossed front cover is quite rare; very few copies are listed in the collected libraries of WorldCat, and few copies are offered through online booksellers.

On September 11, 1893, the World’s Parliament of Religions convened in Chicago as part of the World’s Congress Auxiliary. Among the many world religious leaders was Cardinal James Gibbons, the Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore. In his address to the Catholic Congress of Chicago, he reportedly named the host city “Thaumatopolis,” meaning “City of Wonders.”  We wonder if Crowley adopted Gibbons’ moniker for her changed title.

The City of Wonders tells the story of four members of a suburban New York family—children Nora, Ellen, and Aleck Kendrick, and their “old bachelor” uncle, Jack Barrett—who visit the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Their visit appears to last for five or six days and textual evidence suggests that the story takes place sometime in July (after the Viking ship arrived, but before the Columbian Bell arrived on the fairgrounds).

The narrative is a thinly disguised promotional guide, often weighed down by pedantic exposition. (“Oh look! It’s the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, an amazing 787 foot by 1,687 foot structure. Why, I bet the entire standing army of Russia could fit inside!” Well, not quite that bad, but close.) Indeed, the writing is so derivative, one may wonder if Crowley even visited the Exposition or simply cobbled her story directly from Columbian Exposition publicity department materials and a stack of Rand McNally guidebooks. That she was living in nearby Detroit makes it seem likely that she could have visited the grounds in person, and substantial details about certain exhibits described suggests she did.

For younger readers of the time–especially those not able to travel to the Columbian Exposition—Crowley’s story would have offered the opportunity to imagine visiting the Fair and experiencing many of its wondrous sights. In that spirit, we offer a reprint of this rare book in thirteen installments (chapters). The sites visited in the story are shown on the map below.

CHAPTERS:

  1. Off for The City of Wonders  posted 12/22/2019

  2. La Rabida  posted 12/23/2019

  3. The Caravels and the Viking Ship  posted 12/24/2019

  4. Modes of Travel, Old and New  posted 12/25/2019

  5. A Glimpse of Europe  posted 12/26/2019

  6. Strangest of All  posted 12/27/2019

  7. A Variety of Entertainment  posted 12/28/2019

  8. The Liberty and Columbian Bells: Art Galleries  posted 12/29/2019

  9. Wonders of the Deep  posted 12/30/2019

  10. The Midway Plaisance  posted 12/31/2019

  11. A Street of Cairo  posted 1/1/2020

  12. The Irish Villages, Old Vienna, etc.  posted 1/2/2020

  13. Last View of The City of Wonders  posted 1/3/2020

A map of the Kendrick children’s visit to the fairgrounds. Locations are color-coded for each day of the story: red = Day 1 (Chapters 1-4); yellow = Day 2 (Chapter 5); orange = Day 3 (Chapter 6); green = Day 4 (Chapter 7-9); blue = Day 5 (Chapter 10-12); violet = Day 6 (Chapter 13).

NOTES

The original text has been lightly edited to correct some spelling errors and numerous misplaced commas. We’ve provided accompanying images not included in the original publication.

We offer a few notes on matters of interest and accuracy relating to the 1893 World’s Fair, but let stand Crowley’s commentary about Christopher Columbus, the crusades, and several other historical matters that readers may deem simplistic or inaccurate. As with many reprints from 1893, we caution readers to expect some language that by today’s standards is xenophobic and racist (e.g. referring to Native Americans as “savages”) and that conforms to gender norms of the late nineteenth century. By reprinting the original text, we in no way endorse such views. On the contrary, we hope that this perspective from America’s past can serve as a useful tool (for those with open minds) to examine how much our society has—or hasn’t—become more inclusive and appreciative of the diversity of people, cultures, and religions that make up our world.

SOURCES

The Catholic Encyclopedia 1922 Edward Aloysius Pace, Ed. Encyclopedia Press, 1922.

Immortelles of Catholic Columbian Literature. D. H. McBride & Co. 1897.

Kane, Paula M. Separatism and Subculture: Boston Catholicism, 1900-1920. UNC Press Book, 2017.

Mount Vernon (OH) Democratic Banner, Sept. 14, 1893.

Who’s Who in America. Marquis Who’s Who, 1911.