On April 29, 1893, gardeners at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition held a christening ceremony for a pair of plants. Inside the greenhouse behind the Horticultural Building, they sprinkled water from a can onto the opening blossoms of two petunias, baptizing the large white bloom as “Mrs. Potter Palmer” (named after the President of the Board of Lady Managers) and the black one having one tiny white fleck as “The Burnham” (named after the Director of Works for the Exposition).

There is no report on how long theses two flowers lasted, but their namesakes are still well remembered in Chicago.

The greenhouses behind the Horticultural Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. Graphic Co., 1894.]