Chicago’s Alligator Problems

“One day spent among the curious works of nature found in the Fish and Fisheries building was worth a whole year’s reading about them.”  -- “Exposition as an Educator” in Campbell's Illustrated History of the World's Columbian Exposition. A new resident to a Chicago city park has been (occasionally) making waves and making international news. An alligator spotted earlier this week swimming the lagoon of Humboldt Park is now drawing large crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of the [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:33:55-06:00July 12th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY, NEWS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

1893 World’s Fair Coming to the Big Screen in THE CURRENT WAR

The lights are back on for a film partially set on the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Scheduled to open in October 2019 is The Current War, a historical drama about the legendary “war of the currents” between titans of the electrical industry who are setting their sights on powering the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The Current War tells the story of the vicious rivalry between inventors Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), [...]

By Scott|2024-09-23T08:18:36-05:00June 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

2019 History Fairs Showcase Student Research on the 1893 World’s Fair

Several Chicago area students have been researching the 1893 World’s Fair and presented their project at spring history fairs. The Chicago Metro History Fair engages students in grades 6 through 12 in a research project relating to local history. A set of History Fair events during the Spring of 2019 culminated in the Finals competitions at Chicago History Museum on April 10, 2019. Some of these projects were advanced to Illinois History Day, held on Thursday, May 2, 2019, in [...]

By Scott|2023-11-04T19:12:05-05:00June 27th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

Which 1893 World’s Fair building is Among “The 12 Most Controversial Buildings in America”?

A new article at the home advice website BobVila.com describing “The 12 Most Controversial Buildings in America” includes one from the 1893 World’s Fair. The article by Jamie Birdwell Branson lists the Woman’s Building, designed by architect Sophia Hayden. Branson notes that the controversy occurred because the building design “underwent contentious changes during construction, and many architectural journals gave it negative reviews upon completion” and also observes that the criticism may be been “reactions to the fact that the architect [...]

By Scott|2019-06-22T10:46:40-05:00June 22nd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

Wind Power History and the 1893 World’s Fair

The June 2019 issue of Maritime Reporter and Engineering News includes an article on wind energy history that notes the windmill exhibit at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Offshore Wind: A Brief History” by Tom Ewing (pp. 18-19) describes the companies that showcased wind power at the World’s Fair in Chicago. Worldsfairchicago1893.com was happy to provide an image to accompany the article. An advertisement for the U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Co. of Batavia, Illinois. The company erected a [...]

By Scott|2019-06-10T10:13:47-05:00June 11th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |1 Comment
Read More

A visit to the Elmhurst History Museum

We had the pleasure of visiting the  Elmhurst History Museum's new exhibit, “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks”, which we described here. The story of amusement parks in Chicago begins at the great 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and continues through today. The exhibit is free and runs through August 18, 2019.

By Scott|2019-06-09T19:17:15-05:00June 9th, 2019|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), NEWS|0 Comments
Read More

Louisville celebrates 1893 World’s Fair sculptor Enid Yandell

Louisville, Kentucky, is celebrating hometown sculptor Enid Yandell (1870-1934) with a series of events in 2019. The Louisville native, who studied under Auguste Rodin and Frederick MacMonnies, contributed several notable works to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Yandell sculpted the four caryatids supporting the railing of the roof garden of the Woman’s Building. She was selected for the job for Bertha Palmer, President of the Board of Lady Managers and herself a Kentucky native. The artist also [...]

By Scott|2022-09-02T08:25:09-05:00April 25th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past), NEWS|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment
Read More

Restored Map of Jackson Park Before the 1893 World’s Fair

To celebrate the American Library Association’s Preservation Week (April 21-27, 2019), the Chicago Public Library has posted some remarkable photographs of their conservation work on a very fragile map of Jackson Park before the 1893 World’s Fair. Portion of an 1885 map showing the “General Plan for the Jackson Park Shore Protection.” [Image from the Chicago Public Library.] The “General Plan for the Jackson Park Shore Protection” was drawn for the South Park Commissioners in 1885, five years before [...]

By Scott|2019-04-16T09:57:01-05:00April 21st, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

New Biography of Daniel Chester French

Today we’re celebrating the birthday of Daniel Chester French, born on April 20, 1850, and sculptor of The Statue of the Republic and other works for the 1893 World’s Fair. Author's Voice “Virtual Book Signing” video series recently posted the latest episode of “A House Divided” (Season 3, Episode 2). Host Harold Holzer of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop interviews author Dan Weinberg on his new biography of the sculptor, titled Monument Man: The Life & Art of Daniel Chester [...]

By Scott|2019-04-19T16:02:06-05:00April 20th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

Russell L. Lewis

The Chicago History Museum has announced that their Chief Historian Emeritus and Trustee Emeritus Russell Lewis passed away today. Lewis was an eminent World's Columbian Exposition historian, authoring significant collections such as Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair (Turner, 2010) and Remembering the Chicago World’s Fair (Turner, 2011). His recent article “A Wheel With a View” in Summer 2017 issue of Chicago History described the Ferris Wheel. We delighted in, and were enriched by, his presentations on the [...]

By Scott|2019-04-19T19:28:51-05:00April 19th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

Article on “Diana of the Tower” in New York Archives magazine

“America’s Grandest Tower” by Suzanne Hinman in the Spring 2019 (Volume 18, Number 4) issue of New York Archives magazine explores the 1891 dedication of the new tower of the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Topping the tower was a golden goddess who would come down in less than a year and be shipped off to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The article features several beautiful photos of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Diana (including one supplied by WorldsFairChicago1893.com) showing [...]

By Scott|2019-04-16T11:28:56-05:00April 18th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

Relics from the Columbian Exposition’s “Victoria House” Up for Sale

Victoria House served as Great Britain’s government building for the 1893 World’s Fair. Remnants of some beautiful carpentry from the original structure have come on the market recently. This World’s Fair relic, however, comes as part of a house on Chicago’s northside, for sale in the range of $739,000. The house at 1911 W. Farwell Avenue in the Roger’s Park neighborhood was built by Andrew Hall, an electrician who worked for a company involved with the 1893 World’s Columbian [...]

By Scott|2019-03-17T18:55:03-05:00March 17th, 2019|Categories: ANTIQUES, NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

Timeline of THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY minseries

The April 2019 issue of Chicago magazine includes this timeline of the on-again-off-again (it's ON again!) plans for a film version of The Devil in the White City. There is no word yet on the title of the upcoming Hulu miniseries or where filming will take place. And who will play the role of Daniel Burnham? Perhaps ... John C. Reilly? David Morse? Tom Hanks? Daniel H. Burnham, Director of Works for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. [...]

By Scott|2019-03-16T12:37:48-05:00March 16th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

Wind Yourself Up and Spring Forward

A timely reminder from World'sFairChicago1893.com to set your clocks ahead for daylight savings, which begins on Sunday, March 10, 2019. The Clock Tower of the Self-Winding Clock Company in the center of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. [Image from Scientific American, July 29, 1893.]

By Scott|2019-03-08T19:15:41-06:00March 9th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

Fair Floor Faces Foggy Future

A parquet floor in the William Witten Home in Highland Park, Illinois, came from the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from the William Witten Home Facebook page.] Will an impending wrecking ball spare a rare craftsman floor from the 1893 World’s Fair? Following a story last year from the Chicago Tribune, CBS-2 Chicago reports that the William Walter Witten Home, at 1014 Central Avenue in Highland Park, Illinois, could be torn down soon. William Witten "was a talented woodworker," notes [...]

By Scott|2024-11-21T09:25:21-06:00February 15th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|0 Comments
Read More

“Devil in the White City” to be a Hulu Mini Series

One man built a dream city on the shores of Lake Michigan, attracting tens of millions of visitors from around the world. Another built a nightmare hotel in a neighborhood near the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Erik Larson entwined the true stories of architect Daniel H. Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes into a fascinating narrative in his 2003 bestseller The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T10:11:08-06:00February 12th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , |1 Comment
Read More

Finding the Fair at the Field

In terms of quantity and quality, one of the greatest collections of objects from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition resides in the Field Museum in Chicago. The permanent collection is a treasure trove of unique and fascinating items from the 1893 Exposition. We visited the museums several times recently to take in some of the temporary exhibits having World’s Fair materials on display and share a few photos here. Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation ran from July [...]

By Scott|2019-02-12T08:07:01-06:00February 10th, 2019|Categories: EXHIBITS (current), EXHIBITS (past), NEWS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Chicago Magazine Recalls the “Indecent Undulations” on the Midway Plaisance

A photograph of "Egyptian Dancing Girls" from Picturesque World’s Fair shows more modest attire than is often described for the "belly dancer" show on the Midway. The February 2019 issue of Chicago Magazine offers a historical survey of baring skin in the Windy City. “Unbuttoning Chicago’s History of Covering Up” opens with the 1893 World’s Fair, summarizing how the “belly dancers” in the Street in Cairo exhibit on the Midway Plaisance shocked some viewers, raised ire of the [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:40:24-06:00January 26th, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

University of Notre Dame will cover its Christopher Columbus murals

The painting used as the source for a Columbian Issue U.S. postage stamp will be removed from public view at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The basis of the engraving design for 10-cent Columbian stamp titled “Columbus Presenting Natives” is Return of Columbus and Reception at Court (1880-84), the largest of twelve murals about the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus by Italian painter and Notre Dame art professor Luigi Gregori. The painting depicts Columbus’ [...]

By Scott|2023-10-20T21:25:50-05:00January 24th, 2019|Categories: ANTIQUES, NEWS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More

Louis Sullivan’s Transportation Building … in Green

Adler & Sullivan’s Transportation Building. [Image from The World’s Columbian Exposition Portfolio of Views by C. D. Arnold and H. D. Higinbotham (C. B. Woodward Co., 1893).] Finding references to the 1893 World’s Fair--especially in unexpected places--can be a delight. All the more so when images of the White City show up in the context of another personal passion. A few weeks ago, the yellow brick road led to the White City. The Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois, [...]

By Scott|2019-01-20T19:07:41-06:00January 20th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, THEATER|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More
Copyright 2026 WorldsFairChicago1893 | All Rights Reserved |
Go to Top