Echoes of the White City Part 3: “Fourteen Villages and a Jail”
Entering Battery D Armory, visitors to “Echoes of the White City” faced a replica in miniature of one of the greatest attractions of the 1893 World’s Fair
Echoes of the White City Part 2: “A Midway in Miniature”
For two weeks in November of 1894, an ersatz Midway Plaisance sprang to life inside of the Battery D Armory and Second Regiment Armory buildings in downtown Chicago.
Echoes of the White City Part 1: Chicago Society’s 1894 Charity Bazaar
When the Midway reopened in 1894, the Ferris Wheel had only four passenger cars, the girls in the Congress of Beauty had to shave their faces, and the famous “belly dance” was performed by a male window decorator from Marshall Field’s.As carriages pulled up along Michigan Avenue, Chicago’s society folk were greeted by a fat, little man wearing “trousers that might have been intended for twin balloons,” a fez, and shoes with turned-up toes. Standing on a red platform, he [...]
A 360-Degree View of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (Sneak Peek)
The Chicago 00 Project has released a sneak peek of their upcoming an augmented and virtual reality experience, The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, to be published in early 2020. 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 [...]
Oct. 31, 2019: “Devil In The White City” Halloween party (Chicago)
Flight Club, a social darts club with bar and restaurant, will re-imagine the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair for Halloween with a "Devil In The White City" party. For $49, partiers can toss back darts, drinks & dinner amidst the madness, magicians, fortune-tellers & murder mysteries. Flight Club is located at 111 W. Wacker Drive in Chicago.
“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair
The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago shines on the big screen, if only for a few minutes. The Current War (2017, released 2019) tells the story of the rancorous rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who adamantly championed direct current (DC) technologies to electrify and illuminate American cities, and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who banked on alternating current (AC). The legendary “war of the currents” has these titans of the electrical industry setting their sights on powering the Columbian [...]
“Greatly Interested in the World’s Fair is the Wizard.” Thomas Edison’s 1891 Visit to Chicago
Thomas Edison visited Chicago on May 12, 1891, staying for several days “to attend to some private interests” and to consult with Prof. John P. Barrett, Chief of the Department of Electricity and Electrical Appliances for the World’s Columbian Exposition. [“Proposition for a Compromise” Chicago Inter Ocean May 12, 1891, p. 8.] The article below, from the front page of the May 12, 1891, issue of the Chicago Evening Post, describes his interest in the 1893 World’s Fair and [...]
“Quietly Enjoying His Lunch.” Thomas Edison Visits the 1893 World’s Fair
In August 1893, Thomas A. Edison visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His time at the World's Fair bears little resemblance to the story portrayed on screen in The Current War. According to the report below, from the September 2, 1893, issue of Electrical Review, Edison kept a low profile and showed little interest in the electrical exhibits. Thomas A. Edison, accompanied by his family, arrived in Chicago last Monday evening, and went immediately to a house on [...]
Guidance for the Unsophisticated
Before “Goin’ to the Fair,” Americans received unsolicited advice in their small-town newspapers on how to navigate the city of Chicago during their visit to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The June 22, 1893, issue of the Mount Vernon (OH) Democratic Banner offered these words of guidance: There is little doubt that a large proportion of those who will attend the World's Fair ought to be under the charge of a guardian while in the Windy City. This would [...]
Goin’ to the Fair
Americans planning to visit the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago were inundated with cautionary tales about evil trappings in the big city and stories of tourists being ripped off. While an event the size of the World’s Columbian Exposition certainly had its fair share of scammers, reports of exorbitant prices on the fairgrounds were largely unsubstantiated. Even before the opening of the Fair, the poem reprinted below offered guidance to the unsophisticated who contemplated a trip to see the [...]