While visiting “Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum, we spotted some 1893 World’s Fair products in the third-floor gift shop. A few came home with us.
The iconic Ferris Wheel is featured on a T-shirt ($24) that comes in two colors, an enamel pin ($10) and a pair of earrings. Some Oolong Tea ($9.99) from the Oliver Pluff & Co. comes in a special tin featuring Charles Graham’s lovely artwork of the Midway Plaisance.
The Driehaus Museum Store is located on the third floor of the Museum at 40 East Erie Street in Chicago. Museum admission is not required to visit the store.
Might anyone there know the price of admission to the Fair? I wonder if my immigrant great grandparents might have been able to afford to attend? Curious as to how affordable it was for average or working people…? Thank you for your consideration!
Admission to the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds was 50 cents, and this gave a visitor access to all the great exhibition halls. Some attractions, almost all located on the Midway Plaisance, charged an additional entrance fee. Most of these tickets were 25 cents, though the Ferris Wheel cost 50 cents and the Captive Balloon charged $2 for a ride in the sky. Some guidebooks pointed out that to see everything on the Midway would cost a person $15. A few attractions in the White City also had a fee, such as the Cliff Dwellers, Mammoth Crystal Cave, Movable Sidewalk on the pier, and some musical concerts. Adjusted for inflation, a 50-cent ticket in 1893 would cost around $15 in today’s dollars. A $15 trip up and down the Midway in 1893 would cost $429 today. Plus food and drink!