HISTORY Archives - Page 6 of 10 - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

Tales from the Swedish Café
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Tales from the Swedish Café

HISTORY, REPRINTS

Tales from the Swedish Café

Swedes from Chicago and around the world celebrated Sweden Day at the World’s Columbian Exposition on July 20, 1893. Many of the festive events took place at the beautiful Swedish Building. Nearby stood the Swedish Restaurant, which served as another site for Swedes to gather on the fairgrounds and as a concession to showcase Scandinavian fare to visitors from around the world. The Swedish Restaurant (also called the Swedish Café) was run by Robert Lindblom (1844-1907), a prominent Swedish-born trader [...]

By Scott|2023-11-28T09:00:50-06:00July 20th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY, REPRINTS|Tags: Gustaf Wickman, Robert Lindblom, Swedish Building (Sweden), Swedish Restaurant, Teresa Dean|0 Comments

Chicago’s Alligator Problems
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Chicago’s Alligator Problems

HISTORY, NEWS

Chicago’s Alligator Problems

“One day spent among the curious works of nature found in the Fish and Fisheries building was worth a whole year’s reading about them.” -- “Exposition as an Educator” in Campbell's Illustrated History of the World's Columbian Exposition. A new resident to a Chicago city park has been (occasionally) making waves and making international news. An alligator spotted earlier this week swimming the lagoon of Humboldt Park is now drawing large crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of the [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:33:55-06:00July 12th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY, NEWS|Tags: Fisheries Building, George R. Davis, Joseph W. Collins, William S. MacHarg|0 Comments

Maillard’s Mammoth Chocolate Statues
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Maillard’s Mammoth Chocolate Statues

HISTORY

Maillard’s Mammoth Chocolate Statues

July 7 is World Chocolate Day (by some accounts), so let’s celebrate ... 1893 style! Chocolate and cocoa could be found in many locations on the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Blooker’s Dutch Cocoa Windmill and House was one lovely display where visitors could sample some hot cocoa, but a set of mammoth chocolate statues exhibited by Maillard’s chocolates in the Agricultural Building must have been one of the most amazing sights. Maillard's Chocolate advertising [...]

By Scott|2022-10-15T18:01:09-05:00July 7th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, chocolate, Maillard's Chocolates, W.W. Denslow|1 Comment

A Map of Libraries for the 1893 World’s Fair
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A Map of Libraries for the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

A Map of Libraries for the 1893 World’s Fair

At the 1893 World’s Fair, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts displayed “an ingenious map prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, showing at a glance which of the towns in the state have free public libraries and the number of volumes in each library at the beginning of 1893,” according to the March 1894 issue of The Library Journal. The "Free public libraries of Massachusetts" map by George H. Bartlett was on display at the 1893 World's Fair., [...]

By Scott|2019-03-23T18:47:33-05:00April 6th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: libraries, Massachusetts State Building|1 Comment

Fool of the Fair
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Fool of the Fair

HISTORY

Fool of the Fair

We should expect to encounter a fool on April 1st, and visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition could have met a striking fool hanging in the Palace of Fine Arts. Thomas Shields Clarke's oil painting A Fool's Fool (1887) was on display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. [Image from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.] A Fool's Fool (1887) was a work by artist Thomas Shields Clarke (1860–1920) on display in Gallery 7. The 39 [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:51:39-06:00April 1st, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Francis Millet, George W. Maynard, Palace of Fine Arts, Thomas Shields Clarke|2 Comments

Clara Doty Bates, Hostess of the 1893 World’s Fair Children’s Library
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Clara Doty Bates, Hostess of the 1893 World’s Fair Children’s Library

HISTORY, Uncategorized

Clara Doty Bates, Hostess of the 1893 World’s Fair Children’s Library

“There are some crusty old bachelors and a few childless women who make a pretense of disliking children, but it's a flimsy sort of sour-grape antipathy, and rarely rings true. Even those people who do not like children's society will find a great deal to enjoy in their domicile.” —Emma. B. Dunlap, writing about the Children’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Clara Doty Bates. [Image from A Woman of the Century edited by Frances E. Willard [...]

By Scott|2023-12-08T08:50:27-06:00March 21st, 2019|Categories: HISTORY, Uncategorized|Tags: Children's Building, Clara Doty Bates, Eugene Field, World's Congress Auxiliary|0 Comments

Ellen Martin Henrotin, Vice-President of the Women’s Branch of the World’s Congress Auxiliary
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Ellen Martin Henrotin, Vice-President of the Women’s Branch of the World’s Congress Auxiliary

HISTORY

Ellen Martin Henrotin, Vice-President of the Women’s Branch of the World’s Congress Auxiliary

“To her belongs much of the credit for the strong feminist emphasis that characterized the Columbian Exposition.” --James, et al. Notable American Women, 1607-1950, p 182. Ellen M. Henrotin [Image from Pictorial Album and History of the World’s Fair and Midway. Harry T. Smith & Co., 1893.] Socialite and social reformer, Ellen Martin Henrotin (1847-1922) served as Vice President of the World’s Congress Auxiliary of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Educated in Europe, Ellen Martin moved [...]

By Scott|2023-12-20T13:27:12-06:00March 14th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Bertha Palmer, Board of Lady Managers, Ellen Henrotin, Susan B. Anthony|0 Comments

Virginia Claypool Meredith, the “The Queen of American Agriculture” on the Board of Lady Managers
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Virginia Claypool Meredith, the “The Queen of American Agriculture” on the Board of Lady Managers

HISTORY

Virginia Claypool Meredith, the “The Queen of American Agriculture” on the Board of Lady Managers

“It is not likely that there will ever again be any distinction so artificial as that of sex between the skill of men and women--unlikely that there will ever again be a woman’s department in any World’s Fair.” --Virginia Meredith, from a speech given at the Indiana Union of Literary Clubs meeting, May 1892. [reprinted in Whitford, et al. The Queen of American Agriculture: A Biography of Virginia Claypool Meredith] Virginia Claypool Meredith, Vice President of the Board [...]

By Scott|2019-03-02T08:20:14-06:00March 2nd, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Board of Lady Managers, Virginia Meredith|0 Comments

“Frederick Douglass’s Defiant Stand at Chicago’s World’s Fair”
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“Frederick Douglass’s Defiant Stand at Chicago’s World’s Fair”

HISTORY

“Frederick Douglass’s Defiant Stand at Chicago’s World’s Fair”

February 14 is often listed as the birthday of Frederick Douglass, who late in life served as the Commissioner of the Haitian Republic. Daniel Hautzinger writes in “Frederick Douglass's Defiant Stand at Chicago's World's Fair” (WTTW, February 14, 2018) that “Frederick Douglass never knew the date of his own birth, or even how old he was … But the famous abolitionist and orator eventually chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14, determining that he was probably born 200 [...]

By Scott|2019-01-26T18:24:29-06:00February 14th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Frederick Douglass|0 Comments

The World’s Fair in a Cup of Cocoa
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The World’s Fair in a Cup of Cocoa

HISTORY

The World’s Fair in a Cup of Cocoa

An advertisement for Blooker's Cocoa from Harper's Weekly in 1893. This is a good day to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa and think about the 1893 World’s Fair. In a contemporary magazine advertisement promoting their distribution of Blooker’s Dutch Cocoa, the Franco-American Food Company offered this copy: “The Columbian Exposition will soon be a thing of the past. Thousands of people who have visited the White City will remember the Blooker exhibit as they sip their [...]

By Scott|2023-11-04T19:08:38-05:00January 31st, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, Blooker's cocoa mill, chocolate, Intramural Railway, South Pond, windmills|1 Comment