A female architect designed the Arkansas State Building for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The state’s displays at the Fair included a fountain made of crystals (also designed by a woman) and a 14,000-pound piece of zinc and inspired the writing of the song “My Happy Little Home in Arkansas.” Read more in “Arkansas A–Z: From middling to mighty — State’s hand in World’s Fairs” by Guy Lancaster, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (November 13, 2022)
American impressionist painter Childe Hassam (1859–1935) created several paintings of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. He visited Chicago for the first time in 1892 to prepare his works that depicted what the World’s Fair would look like when open the following year. He also exhibited five oil paintings and five watercolors in the Palace of Fine Arts. An original 1893 World’s Fair painting by Hassam sold for $44,000 in the Heritage Auctions American Art Signature Auction #8099 on [...]
The 1893 World’s Fair is the puported theme of three new food and drink establishments in downtown Chicago in September 2022. Kinsley, a new restaurant and bar in the One North Wacker building, promises to evoke a “spirit of innovation and diversity, inspired by the ultimate Fairgrounds of old, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and its gleaming White City.” The name comes from famed Chicago restaurateur Herbert M. Kinsley, who (according to the owners) was hired by architect Daniel [...]
When Barney Fredendall from Guilderland, New York, returned home from his visit to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, he commented that “it will take two years to see it all.” In her article "In 1892, Columbus was celebrated in big Chicago fair and by school children locally," Mary Ellen Johnson describes other impressions of the Columbian Exposition from the pages of the Altamont Enterprise newspaper. “The matter of a visit to the World’s Fair is becoming an [...]
“One morning in September 1893, a 30-year-old Indian man sat on a curb on Chicago’s Dearborn Street wearing an orange turban and a rumpled scarlet robe. He had come to the United States to speak at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, part of the famous World Columbian Exposition. The trouble was, he hadn’t actually been invited …” Read more about Swami Vivekananda’s time at the 1893 World’s Fair in Jennie Rothenberg Gritz's “The Indian Guru Who Brought Eastern [...]
Few surviving artifacts from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition are as treasured as the Viking, an exact replica of the Gokstad ship that sailed from Norway to be displayed at the Fair. Friends of the Viking Ship in Geneva, Illinois, work to preserve and educate about the Viking and her crew. They have released a new audiobook version of Viking: From Norway to America (Friends of the Viking Ship, 2014), an English translation of the memoir written by crew [...]
If you’ve been holding your breath since the January 2023 announcement that Keanu Reeves would star in The Devil in the White City mini-series … you can exhale now. He’s out, according to Deadline. The on-again-off-again limited series currently “in production” at Hulu has lost its make-no-little-plans Director of Works for the 1893 World’s Fair. Daniel Burnham (left) discussing his role as Director of Works for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition with Devil in the White City hopeful [...]
Hip Hip Hooray! Today marks the 5th anniversary of World'sFairChicago1893.com 375,000 views 142,000 visitors 702 posts 5 years 0 ads Thank you for reading.
Some Chicago residents are expressing outrage about the number of mature trees being cut down in Jackson Park due to construction of the Obama Presidential Center (and possibly more for coming down for a planned golf course). More people than you think, perhaps, will be sorry that it has been destroyed. Many years ago, some Chicagoan were distressed by all the trees being chopped down in Jackson Park in order to construct the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. This [...]
A new full-length documenary film 1893 Chicago's Columbian Exposition will have it theatrical premier on September 10th, 2022, at 5 pm. The event is in coordination with the Design Museum of Chicago and will be held at Chicago Filmmakers (1326 W. Hollywood Ave. in Chicago). A $10 donation is requested. Following the screening will be a demonstration on the patio of a World's Fair augmented reality project. For more information on the film, related book and music, and the [...]
