The Dying Scene of this Magnificent Exposition: Mayor Carter Harrison’s Final Speech

World’s Columbian Exposition celebrated “American Cities Day” on Saturday, October 28, 1893, two days before the close of the Fair. Chicago’s Mayor, Carter Harrison, hosted what was thought to be the largest congregation of U.S. mayors ever assembled. Greeting the guests as they arrived on the fairgrounds on the bitterly cold day was the blast of a cannon and musical fanfares from a group of sixteen trumpeters stationed around Music Hall. Mayors represented the great cities of Philadelphia, Milwaukee, [...]

By |2022-12-10T10:10:40-06:00October 28th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Remembering Sophia Hayden, architect of the Woman’s Building

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Sophia Gregoria Hayden on October 17, 1868, in Santiago, Chile. The first female graduate of the four-year program in architecture at MIT, Hayden won the national competition to design the Woman’s Building for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. In her essay on the Woman’s Pavilion, Anna Burrows observes that “due to its limited dimensions, Sophia Hayden deemed it more effective to concentrate attention on the outside details. For these reasons, the [...]

By |2018-10-14T17:19:01-05:00October 17th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Whaleback, “Christopher Columbus” (p. 67)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 67 – THE WHALEBACK, "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS." THE WHALEBACK, "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS."—The steamboat company accorded the privilege of controlling the passenger traffic by water between the central part of Chicago and the Fair Grounds had a number of boats in its service but none to compare either in size or speed with the "Christopher Columbus,' popularly known as the "Whale-back." The "Christopher Columbus" was one of the best of the type [...]

By |2018-10-16T07:16:43-05:00October 16th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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Remembering Harlow Higinbotham, President of the World’s Columbian Exposition

Today we mark the birthday of Harlow Niles Higinbotham (October 10, 1838 – April 18, 1919), who served as the third President of the World’s Columbian Exposition Company, following terms of Lyman J. Gage and William T. Baker. The quote below, reprinted in Harriet Monroe’s Harlow Niles Higinbotham: A Memoir with Brief Autobiography and Extracts from Speeches and Letters (R.F. Seymour, 1920) came from a speech that Higinbotham made years after the 1893 World’s Fair, at a banquet for [...]

By |2018-10-09T08:07:53-05:00October 10th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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October 9, 1893. Could it be possible that 754,000 were assembled together to celebrate a peaceful event?

October 9, 1893, was “the greatest gathering in history” and the “grandest spectacle in modern times.” Chicago Day at the 1893 World’s Fair shattered all previous attendance records with 713,646 paid admissions to the Fair and over three-quarters of a million of people inside the gates of the White City. The event commemorated the night of October 9, 1871, when the Great Fire ripped through downtown Chicago. Having risen from the ashes and rebuilt, Chicago served as host to [...]

By |2018-10-09T06:17:08-05:00October 9th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Santa Maria (p. 66)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 66 – THE SANTA MARIA THE SANTA MARIA.—The duplicate of the flagship of Columbus, the famous  "Santa Maria,” had many thousands of visitors as she lay in Lake Michigan, just in front of the grounds, one of the most interesting of all the Exposition's attractions. The hosts who boarded her and examined her every part, accustomed as they were to the big ships of today, were surprised at her [...]

By |2018-10-06T05:30:35-05:00October 6th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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Hopes of the Coming Humanity: Remembering Frances E. Willard

“The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.” – Frances E. Willard Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Frances E. Willard (September 28, 1839 – February 17, 1898), a member of the Lady Board of Managers of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. The profile of this notable women’s rights activist comes from the October 1891 issue of [...]

By |2018-09-28T08:10:05-05:00September 28th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Entrance to Woman’s Building (p. 65)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 65 – ENTRANCE TO WOMAN'S BUILDING ENTRANCE TO WOMAN'S BUILDING.—The view given in the accompanying illustration is of the east portal to the transept of the Woman's Building, and it may be said of it, as might be said of other portion of the edifice, that it appeared best upon a close inspection. The building, accidentally, no doubt, but none the less certainly, had a feminine character, lacking boldness [...]

By |2024-11-12T12:52:00-06:00September 28th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
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Swami Vivekananda’s Speech at the Opening of the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, September 11, 1893

Swami Vivekananda (center) and other East India Delegates to Congress of Religions at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from Pictorial Album and History of the World’s Fair and Midway (Harry T. Smith & Co., 1893).] Sisters and Brothers of America, It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; [...]

By |2018-09-11T06:49:46-05:00September 11th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |1 Comment
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