HISTORY Archives - Page 2 of 10 - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

The Flying Dutchman Enlightens the World’s Fair of 1893
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The Flying Dutchman Enlightens the World’s Fair of 1893

HISTORY

The Flying Dutchman Enlightens the World’s Fair of 1893

Visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago who found their way into the southwest corner of the Agricultural Building Annex encountered a most curious figure. Rising above a display of farm plows stood a twelve-foot-tall, pot-bellied man flamboyantly dressed and having a pair of huge wings. He stood on a tree stump holding a luminous ear of corn, striking a pose that lampooned the famous Liberty Enlightening the World (aka the Statue of Liberty) by Frédéric Auguste [...]

By Scott|2023-09-15T08:38:26-05:00September 12th, 2023|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, W. H. Mullins Manufacturing Company|0 Comments

“Let this gentleman in at once”: Trouble at the Gate of the 1893 World’s Fair
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“Let this gentleman in at once”: Trouble at the Gate of the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

“Let this gentleman in at once”: Trouble at the Gate of the 1893 World’s Fair

Horace Tucker ran a tight ship. As Superintendent of the Department of Admissions for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Tucker had to account for every person who entered the fairgrounds. In order to pass through an entrance gate, everyone needed to supply either a ticket or a complimentary pass. Everyone. A Special Pass to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition included the printed signature of Horace Tucker, Superintendent of the Department of Admissions. [Image from private collection.] Adlai [...]

By Scott|2023-06-28T18:04:59-05:00June 14th, 2023|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Adlai Stevenson, Eugene Field, Horace Tucker, W. T. Baker|0 Comments

The “Dream City” of 1893
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The “Dream City” of 1893

HISTORY

The “Dream City” of 1893

“Then or now, no words can express the beauty of the Dream City, for it is beyond even the unearthly glamour of a dream.” — Candace Wheeler “The White City” is the most common moniker given to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This nickname—referring to the uniform alabaster color of most of the main exhibition palaces—was coined by H. C. Bunner in his essay “The Making of the White City” (Scribner’s October 1892). A view of a [...]

By Scott|2023-03-19T13:22:01-05:00March 20th, 2023|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Candace Wheeler|2 Comments

Fabulous Fungi at the Fair
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Fabulous Fungi at the Fair

HISTORY

Fabulous Fungi at the Fair

Avert your eyes from a post-apocalyptic future in which fearsome fungi destroy civilization and instead look back at some marvelous mushrooms at the 1893 World’s Fair. George Hiller with his mushroom bed in the dome gallery of the Horticultural Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from the Chicago Tribune Jan. 22, 1893.] The January 22, 1893, issue of the Chicago Tribune reported on “Mushrooms at the Exposition” having “a bed in the Horticultural Building well worth seeing”: [...]

By Scott|2023-03-14T06:54:04-05:00March 12th, 2023|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Horticultural Building, John Thorpe, Mammoth Crystal Cave|0 Comments

Hiding the pickle at the 1893 World’s Fair
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Hiding the pickle at the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Hiding the pickle at the 1893 World’s Fair

The dramatic merchandizing showcased at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition included a quirky subset of exhibits that might be described as “a blank made out of blank.” Much of it involved playing with food. Visitors could admire a Liberty Bell made out of citrus fruit, a Knight on horseback made out of prunes, a landscape painting made out of cereals and grasses, and a Venus de Milo statue made out of chocolate. One tasty display that was promised to [...]

By Scott|2022-11-16T15:32:42-06:00November 14th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, Heinz|0 Comments

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 2)
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The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 2)

HISTORY

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 2)

[Part 1 of this article describes the commission and construction of Carl Rohl-Smith’s statue of Benjamin Franklin for the Electricity Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.] “I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known one hundred years hence.” —Benjamin Franklin, July 27, 1783 The capital of the world vanished like a sweet dream after the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in [...]

By Scott|2022-09-04T09:03:18-05:00September 4th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Benjamin Franklin (statue), Carl Rohl-Smith, Electricity Building, George Pullman, John J. Boyle, Richard Henry Park, Solon S. Beman, Theodore Roosevelt|0 Comments

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 1)
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The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 1)

HISTORY

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 1)

“The scientists says that electricity is life. Then Jackson Park is of a truth a living thing.” — H. D. Northrop, The World's Fair as Seen in One Hundred Days (1893) A crowd of fans sporting blue and red poured out of the new Franklin Field in Philadelphia on the first day of October in 1895, a warm and sunny start to the college football season. Elated with the Quaker’s 40–0 victory over the visiting team from Swarthmore College, [...]

By Scott|2022-09-04T09:06:10-05:00September 3rd, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Benjamin Franklin (statue), Carl Rohl-Smith, Electricity Building, Enid Yandell, Henry Van Brunt, Herman Vilhelm Bissen, Mark Twain|1 Comment

Did the Art Institute of Chicago lions come from the 1893 World’s Fair? (Pt 2)
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Did the Art Institute of Chicago lions come from the 1893 World’s Fair? (Pt 2)

HISTORY

Did the Art Institute of Chicago lions come from the 1893 World’s Fair? (Pt 2)

The pair of lion sculptures by Edward Kemeys that stand in front of the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) are not cast from sculptures at the 1893 World’s Fair. This misinformation, which appears to have originated in the late 1980s, now permeates descriptions of these iconic Chicago mascots in institutional, popular, and scholarly sources. A set of sixteen lion sculptures stood at the entrances to the Palace of Fine Arts at the World’s Columbian Exposition (WCE), and numerous contemporary sources credit their authorship to A. Phimister Proctor and Theodore Baur (not Kemeys). More importantly, the designs of Kemeys’ AIC lions clearly do not match any of the WCE lions.

By Scott|2022-07-14T06:22:03-05:00July 14th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Alexander Phimister Proctor, Art Institute of Chicago, Charles Hutchinson, Edward Kemeys, Julian Hawthorne, Marshall Field, Palace of Fine Arts, Theodore Baur|1 Comment

Did the Art Institute of Chicago lions come from the 1893 World’s Fair? (Pt 1)
Gallery
Did the Art Institute of Chicago lions come from the 1893 World’s Fair? (Pt 1)

HISTORY

Did the Art Institute of Chicago lions come from the 1893 World’s Fair? (Pt 1)

The pair of lion sculptures by Edward Kemeys that stand in front of the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) are not cast from sculptures at the 1893 World’s Fair. This misinformation, which appears to have originated in the late 1980s, now permeates descriptions of these iconic Chicago mascots in institutional, popular, and scholarly sources. A set of sixteen lion sculptures stood at the entrances to the Palace of Fine Arts at the World’s Columbian Exposition (WCE), and numerous contemporary sources credit their authorship to A. Phimister Proctor and Theodore Baur (not Kemeys). More importantly, the designs of Kemeys’ AIC lions clearly do not match any of the WCE lions.

By Scott|2023-12-17T08:07:23-06:00July 14th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Alexander Phimister Proctor, Art Institute of Chicago, Caesar (Statue), Edward Kemeys, Francis Millet, Julian Hawthorne, Moses P. Handy, Palace of Fine Arts, Theodore Baur, W. D. Richardson, W.W. Denslow|1 Comment

When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 5
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When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 5

HISTORY

When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 5

Dessert: Chilled Relations Continued from Part 4. “I have never called Chicago a pork-packing town.” —Ward McAllister As Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Fair approached, Chicago busied herself with final preparations for hosting millions of guests from around the world. The Exposition would be the biggest party ever thrown, and the names of many dignitaries populated the guest list. Royalty rolled down the Midway Plaisance when the Princess Eulalia, Infanta of Spain, visited the 1893 World’s Fair [...]

By Scott|2022-03-17T20:14:18-05:00March 18th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Duke of Veragua, New York, Princess Eulalia, Ward McAllister|1 Comment