185. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to the French Section in the Manufactures Building

ENTRANCE TO THE FRENCH SECTION IN THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—In artistic and elaborate finish, the entrance to the French section in the Manufactures Building would compare favorably with the entrance to the pavilions of any of the great nations in that structure. There was a great porch, which was a semi-dome, supported by Corinthian columns, between which appeared mural paintings of a striking character. The general style of the architecture was a modified Corinthian, yet too ornate to be so [...]

By Randy|2026-05-02T10:40:33-05:00May 2nd, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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184. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Statue of Benjamin Franklin

THE STATUE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.— It was a natural idea and an appropriate one that the heroic statue of Benjamin Franklin should be the most conspicuous object in the main entrance to the Electricity Building. It was the first time in the history of expositions that a building had been devoted to a display of electrical inventions, and it seemed but right and proper that its approach should be overlooked by the statue of the great man who is [...]

By Randy|2026-04-26T10:00:23-05:00April 26th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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183. Picturesque World’s Fair – Main Structure and Dome of the Horticulture Building

MAIN STRUCTURE AND DOME OF THE HORTICULTURE BUILDING.—The admirable features of the Horticulture Building's architecture to be considered were lost to the eye of many for the double reason that its chief attractions were near the center and were to an extent lost in a view of the structure as a whole, and that the space between the Horticulture Building and the West Lagoon was but the width of a roadway and prevented the observer from going a sufficient [...]

By Randy|2026-03-28T08:37:24-05:00March 28th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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A nightly scene of fairy-like loveliness: Illumination of the 1893 White City

Many of the most effusive and eloquent descriptions of the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition focus on the nightly illumination. This electrical spectacle, augmented with flame torches and fireworks, dazzled visitors in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Some cried. Others thought they were glimpsing the heavenly beyond. The luminous poetry seemed like magic, but was actually cutting-edge science. Ponderous steam engines generating some 17,000 horse power drove great dynamos that created the electrical current feeding the 8,000 arc lamps [...]

By Scott|2026-03-26T20:20:05-05:00March 27th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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182. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Frontier Ox-Cart

A FRONTIER OX-CART.—As a sort of annex to the North Dakota Building, there stood outside, upon the greensward, what was called a Red River Ox-Cart. It stood there as representing the only means of conveyance known up to within a little more than twenty years ago throughout the vast territory now composing the two Dakotas. It was simply a stuffed ox, hitched to a cart. It was an amiable-looking ox, one so amiable that it might have been mistaken [...]

By Randy|2026-02-22T15:42:39-06:00February 22nd, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS, Uncategorized|Tags: , |0 Comments
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His (almost) last trip over that infernal Ferris Wheel

On his way to visit the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, the editor of a small-town newspaper in Kansas met a fellow traveler from Lebanon, Indiana, (Mr. J. R. Anthony). On their second day at the Fair, the men toured the Midway Plaisance together and eventually found their way to its central attraction. “The Ferris Wheel next demanded our attention. We were reluctant at first about making this circuitous aerial trip, but Mr. Anthony insisted that we try the [...]

By Scott|2026-02-13T11:44:53-06:00February 14th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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181. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Illinois Building on Illinois Day

THE ILLINOIS BUILDING ON ILLINOIS DAY. — On the occasion of a day of celebration devoted to any particular state, a scene of interest occurred at that state's building. Naturally, the people of the particular commonwealth would gather in thousands about their edifice and there would be much enthusiasm and much noise while the ceremonies of the occasion were in progress. So it was to be expected that Illinois Day, that of the state in which the Exposition was [...]

By Randy|2026-01-18T11:33:17-06:00January 20th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |1 Comment
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Powerlifting at the 1893 World’s Fair

The newspaper account reprinted below is a reminder that marble was mostly a myth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The destination for this faux stone block may have been the Ruins of Yucatan exhibit. Built for a Heavy Load People who were on the platform of the intramural opposite the Anthropological Building yesterday about 3 o’clock were treated to a sight which almost made them doubt their eyes. A wagon drove up whose heavy wheels and sturdy timbers [...]

By Scott|2025-12-19T18:34:03-06:00December 30th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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An Engine of Destruction in the Krupp Gun Pavilion

In her memoir about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Halcyon Days in the Dream City, Mrs. D. C. Taylor describes a day when she explored the area of Jackson Park around the South Pond. The visitor from Kankakee, Illinois, “wandered away by the fortress where is housed, black and baleful, with its great yawning mouth waiting to belch forth death, the great Krupp gun; a fearful hideous thing, breathing of blood and carnage, a triumph of barbarism crouching [...]

By Scott|2025-12-19T06:38:16-06:00December 19th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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180. Picturesque World’s Fair – Looking East from the Golden Door

LOOKING EAST FROM THE GOLDEN DOOR.—Very few views, possibly not more than one, were taken eastward from the Golden Door. That remarkable portal was so striking in itself that it did not occur, apparently, to any one of the various photographers to take any picture in its vicinity which did not include the glittering entrance. There were numerous views near the southern extremity of the lagoons, but there was only one taken at the extreme end and looking across [...]

By Randy|2025-12-14T09:51:58-06:00December 14th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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Only One Thing in the Whole 1893 Exposition Worth Looking at

A man exploring the 1893 World’s Fair in July conveyed this story about an unimpressed visitor from New York: I met a friend on the plaisance yesterday who has just returned from New York. While there he met a New Yorker, whom he asked if he had visited the fair. The New Yorkers said “Yes, in May. I was roasted brown.” “Didn't you like the exposition?” “Like it? I should think not. I wouldn't go across the street to [...]

By Scott|2025-11-14T14:10:18-06:00November 20th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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Meeting on the Midway Plaisance

On any given day, tens or hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world visited the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. One visitor commented on the strange coincidence of meeting familiar people on the fairgrounds: “Anyone merely passing among the thousands scattered over the Exposition grounds can get no idea of what a big patch of the earth they represent. You cannot guess how many of them came from long distances. A man who resides in [...]

By Scott|2025-11-14T14:20:40-06:00November 16th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |2 Comments
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Mayhem on the Midway

Chicagoans rioted in the street—looting shops, destroying property, and attacking law enforcement. They were drunk, lascivious, and did not stop their mayhem until morning. The year was 1893. The place was the Midway Plaisance, the entertainment district of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Just two nights earlier, an assassin had gunned down Chicago’s colorful and beloved mayor, Carter Harrison, Sr., at his front door. With the pageant planned for the Columbian Exposition Closing Day ceremonies cancelled out of respect for [...]

By Scott|2025-10-29T07:50:47-05:00October 30th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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179. Picturesque World’s Fair – East Front of the Manufactures Building

EAST FRONT OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—From the lake alone could be obtained a comprehensive view of the Manufactures Building, the largest structure in the world. From the harbor it could be observed in all the majesty of its magnitude. It was like a mountain range, the first story and descending slope forming foothills to the great dome which, with the balustrade surmounting the promenade formed the crest of the range. It looked as if it were the work of [...]

By Randy|2025-09-21T10:57:08-05:00October 10th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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“The greatest educational exhibit on earth.” Francis W. Parker on the 1893 World’s Fair

Educational reformer Francis W. Parker (1837–1902) advocated for the mental, physical, and moral development of children in public schools. “There is, perhaps, no name more widely known among the teachers of this country, than that of Col. Francis W. Parker,” wrote Lelia E. Patridge in 1883. During the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Colonel Parker served as the principal of the Cook County Normal School in Chicago. He participated in the World’s Congress of Education held in July, presenting a [...]

By Scott|2025-08-19T09:33:51-05:00October 9th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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178. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Iowa Building

THE IOWA BUILDING.—The building of the State of Iowa occupied a very attractive place in the Exposition grounds. It was situated in the extreme northeastern corner of the Fair grounds; one of its fronts overlooking Lake Michigan. It had the additional advantage that it was composed partly of the old Jackson Park Pavilion, a stone structure standing in the park before the Fair, and one of considerable architectural merit. The main part of the Iowa Building conformed in a [...]

By Randy|2025-09-21T11:13:33-05:00September 21st, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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“Hopeless helplessness” at the 1893 World’s Fair

The editor of the Chicago Record offered this advice for seeing the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, enormous as it was. Seeing the Fair Nine out of ten people who find themselves for the first time within the World’s Fair gates are aware of a sensation of hopeless helplessness before the baffling array of buildings and perspectives. The doors of half a hundred interesting-looking palaces stand temptingly open, and the visitor halts before them as Bassanio before Portia’s caskets. Which [...]

By Scott|2025-09-11T09:58:08-05:00September 12th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments
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Eugene Field on the Apostle of Toadyism, Ward McAllister

The June 1, 1893, edition of the Boston Globe announced that “Ward McAllister arrived in Chicago yesterday.” The Brooklyn Citizen made the same claim, with some addional spice: “Ward McAllister arrived in Chicago and went at once to the Hotel Metropole. A rumor went around the hotel that Hobart Chatfield Chatfield-Taylor, who, as Spanish Consul, expects to become acquainted with the infanta, had become alarmed at the possibilities of social blunders had sent for Mr. McAllister to tell him [...]

By Scott|2025-10-02T07:30:40-05:00September 10th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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177. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Lagoon in front of the Art Palace

THE LAGOON IN FRONT OF THE ART PALACE.—It was not a very big sheet of water which lay just south of the Art Palace in the Exposition grounds. It was not imposing in dimensions, though it was by no means small, and it was not such a thoroughfare for launches and gondolas as were other lagoons and connecting straits, but it is doubtful if ever a sheet of water anywhere afforded fairer spectacles or if ever upon one of [...]

By Randy|2025-08-27T07:49:22-05:00August 25th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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A Garden of Architectural Splendors at the 1893 World’s Fair

Charles H. Dennis (1860–1943) served as the managing editor of the Chicago Record during the 1893 World’s Fair and likely penned these thoughts about the architectural wonders of the Exposition. Exhibits and Their Shelters Theoretically the prime object of a World's Fair is the exposition of the various products and the progress of man's handiwork. For purposes of protection and shelter these exhibits must be roofed over and inclosed; buildings must be constructed to house them, the housings being [...]

By Scott|2025-08-23T11:37:55-05:00August 24th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments
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