Grab your Columbian Exposition return pass and head back to the 1893 World’s Fair virtually with the Chicago 00 Project, which has launched their 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition VR web portal at https://1893.chicago00.org/.
A partnership between the Chicago History Museum and filmmaker Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, the Chicago 00 Project has been producing a series of interactive multimedia experiences using historical images of important sites and events in Chicago. Their augmented reality app allows participant to overlay historic photos with real-time views at the site of the 1915 SS Eastland disaster on the Chicago River. Other projects showcase film, photo, and sound archival materials for a virtual reality experience of Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
1893 World’s Columbian Exposition VR web portal includes 360-degree views of the fairgrounds with vintage photographs stitched and superimposed onto a modern backdrop of Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance. Visitors to the White City can enjoy the view from atop the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, from a bridge connecting the Wooded Island and the southern edge of the Horticultural Building, and from a gondola floating in the Grand Basin.
Along the Midway are thirteen views, from the Javanese Village on the eastern side to the Lapland Village and Sitting Bull’s Cabin on the western end. In the middle are several views from inside the Ferris Wheel at various stages of rotation.
A short video shows the process behind Chicago00: 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: https://youtu.be/opbF4GMq75g