Nearly all visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago were stopped in their tracks by the stunning beauty of the Court of Honor, the quadrangle of white palaces surrounding the Grand Basin. At least one visitor, however, had a gripe to pick, as reported (facetiously) by the Chicago Record:
“It’s really a beastly shame,” said the English visitor at the World’s Fair. “It’s a beastly shame the way this court of honor has been spoiled, you know.”
“What’s the matter with it? Architecture all right?”
“Yes.”
“Ain’t the color scheme good? Don’t you like the statue?”
“Certainly, but—”
“Nothing wrong with the fountains, eh? Obelisk graceful, ain’t it? Administration building imposing, eh? Well, what in goodness’ name are you fighting about?”
“Oh, everything’s pretty, y’know, and all that,” said the Englishman, depreciatingly, “but think of their spelling the word honor without a ‘u.’”
H. D. Nichol’s watercolor of “The Court of Honor” facing east. [Image from Bancroft, Hubert Howe The Book of the Fair. The Bancroft Company, 1893.]
SOURCE
“A Blot on the Fair” Philadelphia Times Aug. 21, 1893, p. 7.