FAIR Archives - Page 17 of 48 - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs
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120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs

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120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs

A LOAD OF MICHIGAN PINE LOGS.—The lumber industry in Michigan is conducted on a grand scale, and something of the methods pursued was illustrated by a firm which contributed a single load of logs to the Exposition. Twenty-five saw logs were shown in a single load at the Centennial Exposition. Michigan simply doubled this. Never before was seen such a load of logs. It consisted of fifty magnificent lengths of white pine, borne on a single sled, containing forty-six [...]

By Randy|2021-06-14T08:09:17-05:00June 14th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Forestry Building, Logger's Camp, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building
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119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building

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119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building

THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING.—The Transportation Building was unique among the great structures of the Columbian Exposition in that it was the single departure from a general rule, the contrast and the foil to all the others. It was distinct in its style of architecture, and alone was decorated exteriorly in colors. It was not of those buildings which won for the Exposition the title of "The White City." The main building, located just west of the south end of the [...]

By Randy|2021-06-08T09:23:03-05:00May 30th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Dankmar Adler, Golden Door, Louis Sullivan, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building|0 Comments

A Room with a View … of Diana
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A Room with a View … of Diana

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A Room with a View … of Diana

In late November of 1892, Moses P. Handy moved into his new office inside the Administration Building on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds in Jackson Park. As Chief of the Department of Publicity and Promotion, Handy had a staff of between four and forty-five, including local newspapermen Paul Hull and Sam V. Steele, both well-known among Chicago’s writers. The Chicago Times (November 29, 1892) reported on the move-in and on the Publicity Chief’s impressive view of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ marvelous statue [...]

By Scott|2021-05-24T10:15:31-05:00May 24th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Diana, Moses P. Handy|0 Comments

Ballyhoo on the Midway Plaisance
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Ballyhoo on the Midway Plaisance

HISTORY

Ballyhoo on the Midway Plaisance

“All new words are created because a new sound is needed to voice an idea, usually also new.” —Charles Wolverton The word ballyhoo, according to the renowned and authoritative Oxford English Dictionary (OED), means a “a showman’s touting speech, or a performance advertising a show.” It can be used as a mass noun to mean “bombastic nonsense; extravagant or brash publicity; noisy fuss.” Though this “carnival” usage has uncertain origins, the OED and other etymology sources cite the first [...]

By Scott|2023-12-20T14:25:32-06:00May 18th, 2021|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: fakirs, Midway Plaisance, Ostrich Farm, Turkish Village|0 Comments

Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds
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Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

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Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

Several media outlets, including the Guardian and People, are reporting on Chicago’s use of feral cats to beat back our nationally recognized rat population. It’s old news. We’ve been relying on our feline friends since at least the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Not many people are aware that the World’s Fair has a cat,” wrote the Chicago Tribune in September 1893. “This ignorance on the part of visitors is largely due to the fact that the cat does not appear [...]

By Scott|2021-05-16T12:56:25-05:00May 17th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Machinery Hall, Midway Plaisance|0 Comments

118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer
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118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer

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118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer

THE GREAT STEAM HAMMER.—One exhibit in the Transportation Building always attracted curious inspection. To many unfamiliar with the heavy machinery used in the vast manufactories of today, its use was not apparent, but to those informed in such fields it was an object of decided interest. This was the model of the monster steam hammer in use by the Bethlehem Iron Company, of Pennsylvania, the largest steam hammer in the world. Though painted to represent iron, the model was [...]

By Randy|2025-05-28T09:22:45-05:00May 9th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Bethlehem Iron Steam Hammer, Dankmar Adler, Louis Sullivan, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building|0 Comments

Prominent Petunias
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Prominent Petunias

HISTORY

Prominent Petunias

On April 29, 1893, gardeners at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition held a christening ceremony for a pair of plants. Inside the greenhouse behind the Horticultural Building, they sprinkled water from a can onto the opening blossoms of two petunias, baptizing the large white bloom as “Mrs. Potter Palmer” (named after the President of the Board of Lady Managers) and the black one having one tiny white fleck as “The Burnham” (named after the Director of Works for the [...]

By Scott|2021-05-08T14:32:44-05:00May 8th, 2021|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Bertha Palmer, Daniel Burnham, Horticultural Building|0 Comments

Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair
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Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair

Uncle John rose with the morning sun on April 23, 1893 and made a bee-line for the Horticultural Building on the fairgrounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, Chicago. The opening of the Fair—when President Cleveland would push the button to unfurl the flags along the White City rooftops and release the water to the glorious fountains—was still nine days away. Today, however, the Chief of the Horticultural Department was expecting a throng of visitors to his [...]

By Scott|2023-03-11T16:15:10-06:00May 7th, 2021|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Horticultural Building, John Thorpe, pulque, William Le Baron Jenney|0 Comments

117. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Wisconsin Building
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117. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Wisconsin Building

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117. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Wisconsin Building

THE WISCONSIN BUILDING.—It was intended that the Wisconsin Building should be indicative of the resources of the state, and such it was in fact. All the visible material came from Wisconsin, the brown stone, the pressed brick, the shingles and even the plate glass being home products. A handsome building was the result, too. The rich brown stone has long been famous for such use, and the design of the structure was such as to enable its employment to [...]

By Randy|2021-04-26T06:04:24-05:00May 1st, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, State Buildings, Wisconsin State Building|0 Comments

THIS IS A LOAN from Isabella Stewart Gardner
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THIS IS A LOAN from Isabella Stewart Gardner

HISTORY

THIS IS A LOAN from Isabella Stewart Gardner

A new Netflix documentary This Is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist reveals the grievous but fascinating story of a 1990 art theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Two paintings from the collection (thankfully not stolen!) were loaned by Mrs. Gardner to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and exhibited in the Palace of Fine Arts. Hanging in the Swedish display in Gallery 70 was Anders Zorn’s Omnibus (1892). Mrs. Gardner purchased this 49 [...]

By Scott|2021-04-25T11:09:28-05:00April 25th, 2021|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Harlow Higinbotham, Palace of Fine Arts|0 Comments