Death of the Republic: The fiery end to the golden colossus of the 1893 World’s Fair

They toppled the Republic at dawn on August 28, 1896. As the first rays of the sun spread across Lake Michigan and into Jackson Park, a funeral pyre lit inside the colossus began to spread up the structure. A flash of light soon appeared in her raised left arm. On a pedestal in the lagoon, the ghostly goddess stood with impassive dignity as muffled cracking within her heralded impending doom. A halo of yellow light formed about her head, [...]

124. Picturesque World’s Fair – State Buildings Looking South

STATE BUILDINGS—LOOKING SOUTH.—The city of State Buildings at the north end of the Fair Grounds afforded many interesting bird's-eye views, of which one of the prettiest is given in the accompanying illustration. The view taken is from an elevated point at the northern extremity of the inclosed area, and very nearly at the center east and west. In the foreground, at the right, appears the log-built chalet of Idaho, beyond which is the Maryland Building, the gable of that [...]

An Endless Ride on the Intramural Railway at the 1893 World’s Fair

One challenge for the designers of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was finding ways to transport visitors around the enormous fairgrounds. Walking the main grounds—almost a mile and a half from north to south and three-quarters of a mile wide across the south end, and a mile-long Midway Plaisance—exhausted many fairgoers. Rolling chairs offered a personal mode of transportation around the grounds, while watercraft such as electric launches and Venetian gondolas provided scenic routes through the waterways. The fastest [...]

By |2023-10-02T19:44:40-05:00July 31st, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments

123. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Boiler-Room of Machinery Hall

THE BOILER-ROOM OF MACHINERY HALL.—Never before was such a boiler-room as that which delighted engineers in Machinery Hall. It must needs be enormous, for it supplied the force for all the lights and machinery of the great buildings, but those who had never seen it were none the less astonished when they entered the great room. It extended north and south in the annex, and to look down it was like looking down a street the end of which [...]

By |2021-07-27T06:51:41-05:00July 27th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 3

Continued from Part 2 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. Charmed with the wonders of the White City As Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi prepared to depart Chicago, he was leaving behind his name with the son of a new friend, and he was leaving behind his statue of Washington and Lafayette with an uncertain future. Although Bartholdi reportedly had planned for only a two-week sojourn in Chicago, he had stayed for three. On the afternoon of Sunday, September 24, [...]

122. Picturesque World’s Fair – South Front of the Manufactures Building

SOUTH FRONT OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—While not its greatest frontage, the south end of the Manufactures Building was most familiar to Exposition visitors, facing as it did to the Court of Honor and affording between it and the Grand Basin a vantage point for seeing the fountains at play and the illumination of the buildings at night. The illustration above shows this frontage as well as that on the west, adjacent to the canal and the East Lagoon. The [...]

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 2

Continued from Part 1 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. “I come to see the American side of the Fair” On September 10, 1893, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and his wife Jeanne-Émilie arrived in Chicago and settled into the Hotel Metropole. This hotel stood on Michigan Avenue at 23rd Street, just south of the tony Prairie Avenue District called home by many of Chicago’s elite citizens, including Marshall Field, George Pullman, Ferdinand ("Ferd") W. Peck, and John Jacob Glessner. [...]

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 1

“My only ambition has been to engrave my name at the feet of great men and in the service of grand ideas.” —Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. Most monographs about Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi conclude his story with the 1886 unveiling ceremony for his Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. A lesser-known chapter in the French sculptor’s life involves his next and final trip to the United States in 1893, a six-week visit from [...]

121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights

THE GRAND BASIN AT NIGHT—SHOWING SEARCH-LIGHTS.—One of the charms of the night view over the Grand Basin was that it was always new, atmospheric or other causes producing varied effects, and the scene on one occasion being entirely different from that presented on another. And not only were atmospheric conditions fluctuating, but the artificial ones produced were made still more so, a new experience to the sight-seer after dark being thus assured beyond all peradventure. Here the great element [...]

“One feels inclined to make his peace with God and man”: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel

The great Ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance of the World’s Columbian Exposition opened to the public on June 21, 1893. A North Carolina visitor to the 1893 World’s Fair sent this correspondence to the Charlotte Observer about his experience riding the famous Ferris Wheel: Yesterday we spent the day in the Midway Plaisance. Among the first of our experiences was a ride on the great Ferris Wheel. This immense structure, consuming in its various parts over 4,000 tons [...]

By |2021-04-30T08:43:48-05:00June 21st, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |4 Comments
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