Charles Bowler Atwood (1849–December 19, 1895), the most prolific architect of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, designed more than seventy-five buildings and structures, ranging from the stock to the sublime.
THE CLIFF DWELLERS.--There were few more interesting exhibits at the World's Fair than the home of the ancient Cliff Dwellers, shown in the imitation of Battle Rock Mountain, in the Mac Eimo Valley of Colorado. The curious structure was made of timbers, iron and staff, and stood near the Anthropological Building in the southeast corner of the grounds. The representation of the homes of the people whose history can be but guessed at was most complete, and, upon entering [...]
The man whose name is synonymous with the kinetic attraction he erected on the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair died of typhoid fever on November 22, 1896, at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. Though now unforgettably linked to his engineering marvel, the name of George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. was unfamiliar to many fairgoers who walked by the great wheel, as shown in this story published in the October 29, 1893, issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune. Persist [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 90 - DETAILS OF THE "GOLDEN DOORWAY." DETAILS OF THE "GOLDEN DOORWAY."—The magnificent entrance to the Transportation Building, known popularly as the "Golden Doorway"—though it was not golden, but green and silver—was not, architecturally considered, complete with the quintuple arches and doorway proper alone, but included, as part of the entrance effects, a system of elaborate lateral ornamentation, the details of which, on one side, are given in the [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 89 – FORT SHERIDAN IN THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING FORT SHERIDAN IN THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING.—In point of reproduction, under a roof, of certain objects connected with the aim of its display the government did exceptionally well. The lay figures of soldiers and animals, the first to exhibit styles of uniforms of different eras, the second to illustrate means of transportation under certain circumstances, were exceedingly life-like and deceived, for the [...]
Thomas Edison visited Chicago on May 12, 1891, staying for several days “to attend to some private interests” and to consult with Prof. John P. Barrett, Chief of the Department of Electricity and Electrical Appliances for the World’s Columbian Exposition. [“Proposition for a Compromise” Chicago Inter Ocean May 12, 1891, p. 8.] The article below, from the front page of the May 12, 1891, issue of the Chicago Evening Post, describes his interest in the 1893 World’s Fair and [...]
In August 1893, Thomas A. Edison visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His time at the World's Fair bears little resemblance to the story portrayed on screen in The Current War. According to the report below, from the September 2, 1893, issue of Electrical Review, Edison kept a low profile and showed little interest in the electrical exhibits. Thomas A. Edison, accompanied by his family, arrived in Chicago last Monday evening, and went immediately to a house on [...]
Before “Goin’ to the Fair,” Americans received unsolicited advice in their small-town newspapers on how to navigate the city of Chicago during their visit to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The June 22, 1893, issue of the Mount Vernon (OH) Democratic Banner offered these words of guidance: There is little doubt that a large proportion of those who will attend the World's Fair ought to be under the charge of a guardian while in the Windy City. This would [...]
Americans planning to visit the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago were inundated with cautionary tales about evil trappings in the big city and stories of tourists being ripped off. While an event the size of the World’s Columbian Exposition certainly had its fair share of scammers, reports of exorbitant prices on the fairgrounds were largely unsubstantiated. Even before the opening of the Fair, the poem reprinted below offered guidance to the unsophisticated who contemplated a trip to see the [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 88 – INTERIOR OF MACHINERY HALL INTERIOR OF MACHINERY HALL.—Quite different from the view afforded inside any other of the buildings of the Fair was that where the acres of all kinds of modern machinery were exposed in competition. So constructed that the most effective display of such exhibits could be made, the vast hall presented a scene never equaled of its kind before. A common simile in describing [...]
