United States Presidents Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair

Thirteen men who served as President of the United States lived at the time of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Five of them are known to have visited Chicago to see the Fair.

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893)

19th U.S. President (Republican) from March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881.

Rutherford B. Hayes attended the Dedication Ceremonies in October 1892. He and his daughter Fanny arrived on October 18, attended the Inaugural Reception at the Auditorium on October 19, the civic parade on October 20, and the Dedication Day Ceremonies on the fairgrounds on October 21. Hayes died on January 17, 1893.

Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)

23rd U.S. President (Republican) from March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893.

Benjamin Harrison played the largest role in establishing the 1893 World’s Fair by signing the act providing for an international exhibition and sending a Presidential Proclamation for nations of the world to participate. Harrison visited the Chicago fair in June and again in September for Indiana Day. The ex-President wrote a brief review of the Exposition (“Points of Interest”) for the September issue of the Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)

22nd and 24th U.S. President (Democrat) from March 4, 1885 – March 4, 1889 and from March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897.

President Grover Cleveland participated in the Opening Day ceremony of the Exposition on May 1, famously pressing the button to set the machinery in motion. Cleveland arrived in Chicago on April 29 and made a (surprise) visit to the fairgrounds; he departed after a formal tour of the grounds on the afternoon of May 1.

William McKinley (1843–1901)

25th U.S. President (Republican) from March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901.

William McKinley then the Governor of Ohio, visited the fairgrounds several times, including from October 19–23, 1892, for the Dedication Week festivities; from June 22 through 26, 1893, to see the fairgrounds, for Ohio Day on September 14. McKinley was busy with his reelection campaign during the fall of 1893. McKinley was assassinated at the 1901 World’s Fair in Buffalo.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)

26th U.S. President (Republican) from September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909.

U.S. Civil Service Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt was the main force behind the Boone and Crockett Club erecting the Hunter’s Cabin on a small island just off the southern tip of the Wooded Island. Roosevelt attended the Boone and Crockett Club diner for opening of Hunter’s Cabin on June 15.

The other eight future Presidents who were alive at the time—William Howard Taft (1857–1930), Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), Warren G. Harding (1865–1923), Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933), Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), Franklin D. Roosevelt* (1882–1945), Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), and Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)—are not known to have visit the Exposition.

* Some sources indicate that eleven-year-old Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to the Chicago fair by train with his father, but this has not been verified.