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The Myth of Marble: A Roman Statue of “Minerva” at the 1893 World’s Fair

Chicago is abuzz about “Myth and Marble,” a fabulous new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago running from March 15 to June 29, 2025. On display are fifty-eight magnificent sculptures of gods and goddesses, emperors and funerary monuments. All come from the Torlonia Collection of Rome, one of the world’s finest private collections of Greco-Roman antiquities. The artwork has been out of the public view for most of the past century. Statue of Athena from the Torlonia [...]

By |2025-03-18T13:49:35-05:00March 21st, 2025|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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Apr. 12, 2025: “Daniel Burnham’s Chicago” (Glen Ellyn, IL)

He was one of Chicago’s greatest architects and served as Director of Works for the 1893 World’s Fair. Daniel Burnham will be portrayed by Terry Lynch in a presentation on April 12, 2025, sponsored by the Glen Ellyn Historical Society. Guests of “Daniel Burnham’s Chicago – A Dramatic Portrayal by Terry Lynch” will experience the grandeur of the Columbian Exposition and learn about its origins, exhibits, and the people and politics involved in creating the White City. As Burnham, [...]

By |2025-03-18T14:47:04-05:00March 20th, 2025|Categories: EVENTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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Mar. 22, 2025: “Bertha Honoré Palmer – A Life in Three Acts” (Glen Ellyn, IL)

She was “The Queen of Chicago” and “The Queen of the Fair” in 1893. Bertha Honoré Palmer is the subject of a presentation by historian Laurie Russell on March 22, 2025, sponsored by the Glen Ellyn Historical Society. “Bertha Honore’ Palmer – A Life in Three Acts” will examine her legacy and impact on Chicago and around the world. Vintage photographs will illustrate Bertha Palmer’s life from early childhood, her marriage to hotel magnate Potter Palmer, the Great Chicago [...]

By |2025-03-18T14:03:36-05:00March 19th, 2025|Categories: EVENTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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“Isn’t it hideous?” Cleveland Caricature is a Columbian Claptrap

A flower arrangement made of immortelles (everlastings) at the 1893 World’s Fair intended to depict President Grover Cleveland. The floral display in the Horticultural Building turned heads and turned stomachs. This article in the Chicago Tribune about the “Caricature in Immortelles” included a headline declaring “The Alleged Cleveland Picture in the Horticultural Building an Atrocity.” Under the great dome of the horticultural building, just opposite the main entrance, through which most strangers approached the beautiful display of plants and [...]

By |2025-03-11T11:59:25-05:00March 18th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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Dyche’s Panorama of North American Mammals at the 1893 World’s Fair

While countless attractions at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition could make a reasonable claim to be the “most interesting” exhibit on the fairgrounds, the article reprinted below awards that honor to the “Exhibit of Large North American Mammals” in the Kansas State Building. Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche’s unique panorama is one of the few large displays from the 1893 Exposition that remained intact after the close of the Fair. The University of Kansas Natural History Museum houses the display, [...]

By |2025-03-14T08:01:43-05:00March 16th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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1893 World’s Fair natural history artifact to be restored

A treasured educational display from the 1893 World’s Fair will be restored, thanks to a $2 million gift. Dyche’s Panorama, formally called the “Exhibit of Large North American Mammals,” was originally displayed inside the Kansas State Building at the Columbian Exposition before finding a permanent home at the University of Kansas. Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche created the panorama to showcase University’s natural history and taxidermy collection and to “awaken a more general interest and teach valuable lessons on the [...]

By |2025-03-14T08:00:55-05:00March 15th, 2025|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Bounced from the Beer Garden on the Midway Plaisance

Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair frequently complained about the behavior of restaurant staff, with claims of their padding the bill of fare to not offering polite service. While venturing into cafes and bars among the various international villages of the Midway Plaisance, guests faced even greater tensions due to language barriers and differences in cultural norms. The Beer Garden in front of the Castle in the German Village, 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. [Image from Unsere Weltausstellung. Eine [...]

By |2025-03-14T11:11:13-05:00March 14th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Homesick in the German Village

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 showcased many exciting attractions that were new and unusual to the tens of millions of visitors—electrical devices powered by mammoth dynamos, unfamiliar music and dance from Asian and African cultures, and a giant rotating observation tower. In some instances, though, fairgoers found comfort in the familiar, as in the case of when this immigrant ventured into German Village on the Midway Plaisance and reconnected to fond memories of the Fatherland. Entrance to [...]

By |2025-03-12T16:03:03-05:00March 13th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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World’s Fair bridge listed among “Chicago’s Most Endangered Buildings 2025”

Preservation Chicago released its “Most Endangered” list for 2025 (on March 4, Chicago's 188th birthday). Included with six threatened buildings is a bridge that allowed tens of millions of visitors to cross the Lagoon during the 1893 World’s Fair. Designed by renowned architectural firm of Burnham & Root, the bridge was built in 1880 and is the oldest extant structure of Frederick Law Olmsted’s original design for Jackson Park. Officially renamed the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge in 1957, the [...]

By |2025-03-06T11:57:31-06:00March 7th, 2025|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
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Mar. 24, 2025: “Fashion, Ferris Wheels, and Film: Dressing Women for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair” (Crest Hill, IL)

The White Oak Library District Crest Hill Branch is hosting a talk on “Fashion, Ferris Wheels, and Film: Dressing Women for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair” on March 24, 2025, at 7 pm. Kelli Marshall of Chicago Movie Tours will discuss how women navigated societal expectations while dressing for a day of excitement at one of America’s first amusement parks. Through the use of original photographs, vintage newspaper articles, and a virtual reality Ferris Wheel experience, she will explore [...]

By |2025-03-02T10:17:00-06:00March 3rd, 2025|Categories: EVENTS|2 Comments
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