Guidance for the Unsophisticated

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 [...]

By Scott|2019-10-20T08:45:54-05:00October 22nd, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |1 Comment
Read More

Goin’ to the Fair

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 [...]

By Scott|2019-10-20T08:47:28-05:00October 21st, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |1 Comment
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Interior of Machinery Hall (p. 88)

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 [...]

By Randy|2019-10-20T06:55:21-05:00October 20th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

A Fair Harvest

With autumn comes the fall harvest. The doggerel below, from the April 1892 issue of Halligan’s The Illustrated World's Fair, has a rural farmer anticipating the upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Poet W. H. Jewett may be referencing Littleville, Alabama, in the second verse. A photograph of pumpkins from the California exhibit in the Agricultural Building, from a Kilburn stereoscope card. [Image from the Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside.] FARMER HEDGEROW'S [...]

By Scott|2019-10-05T09:16:55-05:00October 6th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Egyptian Swordsmen (p. 87)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 87 – EGYPTIAN SWORDSMEN EGYPTIAN SWORDSMEN.— Among the attractions of a Street in Cairo were a number of swordsmen, some of them very expert in their profession. Their weapons were not of the style in use among Europeans and Americans, but resembled Japanese swords somewhat and had no guard above the hand grip. The blades were not, however, used much in a defensive way, that being left to the [...]

By Randy|2019-12-17T13:27:33-06:00September 30th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |1 Comment
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Curious Grain Picture (p. 86)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 86 – THE CURIOUS GRAIN PICTURE THE CURIOUS GRAIN PICTURE.—There were many fine exhibits in the big Illinois Building, many novel displays and a great showing of objects with what might be called an agricultural tendency, but the throng was always greatest at one particular point, that being immediately in front of what became known popularly as " The Grain Picture." The picture represented a typical, well-conducted Illinois prairie [...]

By Randy|2019-09-14T18:21:06-05:00September 14th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |1 Comment
Read More

Frederick Law Olmsted and the Spark of Genius

The Wooded Island in the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On the anniversary of the death of Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903), we endeavor that the memory of his name and personality is not dimmed in the passage of years. This tribute to Olmsted’s design of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition comes from the May 3, 1893, issue of Garden and Forest, written just after Opening Day on the fairgrounds. In [...]

By Scott|2019-08-17T13:03:52-05:00August 28th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |1 Comment
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – A View Through the Ferris Wheel (p. 85)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 85 – A VIEW THROUGH THE FERRIS WHEEL A VIEW THROUGH THE FERRIS WHEEL.—Imposing as was the Ferris Wheel seen from a distance, a great object towering aloft and showing the location of the Fair from a distance of miles away, it was scarcely less impressive when its monster parts were examined from one of the cars which revolved with it, carrying their hosts of passengers. It was not [...]

By Randy|2021-05-16T11:25:24-05:00August 26th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

The (Im)Perfection of Rude Simplicity: Davy Crockett’s Descendant Visits the Hunter’s Cabin at the 1893 World’s Fair

Many visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago on June 9, 1893, were eagerly trying to spot the Infanta Eulalia, the visiting Princess from Spain, as she toured the White City and Midway Plaisance. Meanwhile, just off the south end of the Wooded Island, a direct descendant of the legendary pioneer Davy Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) visited the quaint Hunter’s Cabin. Sponsored by Theodore Roosevelt and his Boone and Crockett Foundation and designed by prolific [...]

By Scott|2019-07-31T15:36:39-05:00August 17th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Looking North from the South Colonnade (p. 84)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 84 – LOOKING NORTH FROM THE SOUTH COLONNADE LOOKING NORTH FROM THE SOUTH COLONNADE.—In the opinion of many people the most striking extended view to be had upon the Fair grounds was from the Obelisk, at the southern extremity of the South Canal, or better still, from the Colonnade immediately in its rear. From this point opened a vista nearly a mile in length terminated only by the beautiful [...]

By Randy|2019-08-05T05:47:53-05:00August 5th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Brazil Building (p. 83)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 83 – THE BRAZIL BUILDING THE BRAZIL BUILDING.—The structure erected by the greatest of the South American Republics was what might have been expected from that great country. Brazil appropriated for the Columbian Exposition no less than $600,000, and of this sum $50,000 was expended on the building where all visitors were entertained and where were the official head-quarters of the commission. The edifice was in the form of [...]

By Randy|2019-07-20T06:29:48-05:00July 21st, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

Tales from the Swedish Café

Swedes from Chicago and around the world celebrated Sweden Day at the World’s Columbian Exposition on July 20, 1893. Many of the festive events took place at the beautiful Swedish Building. Nearby stood the Swedish Restaurant, which served as another site for Swedes to gather on the fairgrounds and as a concession to showcase Scandinavian fare to visitors from around the world. The Swedish Restaurant (also called the Swedish Café) was run by Robert Lindblom (1844-1907), a prominent Swedish-born trader [...]

By Scott|2023-11-28T09:00:50-06:00July 20th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY, REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Michigan Building (p. 81)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 81 – THE MICHIGAN BUILDING THE MICHIGAN BUILDING.—Of all the State buildings on the Fair grounds none was more popular than the Michigan Building. Standing near the Fifty-seventh street entrance, its handsome front catching the eye of visitors, its doors always hospitably open, not to Michigan people alone but to the multitude, and its spacious rooms and luxurious appointments inviting all to their enjoyment, it was generally the resting [...]

By Randy|2019-07-06T09:44:26-05:00July 6th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

“Moving With Perfect Freedom” on the Fourth of July, 1893

The Fourth of July was one of the great “Special Days” of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The passage below comes from “The World's College of Democracy” by John Brisben Walker, published in the September 1893 issue of The Cosmopolitan, of which he was the owner and editor. Of all the wonders of the Fair around him, Walker boasts most about the conduct of the visitors on Independence Day. It was my good fortune to be present [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T10:09:46-06:00July 4th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

“The couple gasped in horrified surprise.” Nude Art at the 1893 World’s Fair

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago exposed visitors to a new world. Many experienced what has been described as the "shock of the new” when facing awesome technological advances and the rich variety of human cultures on exhibition. Others felt a shock just from seeing the human form openly displayed. “No one can help noticing the frankness and more than pagan un-reserve with which contemporary artists are treating the nude, both in painting and in sculpture.” wrote Julian Hawthorne in his [...]

By Scott|2024-09-24T09:06:18-05:00May 28th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Columbian Fountain from the Rear (p. 80)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 80 – COLUMBIAN  FOUNTAIN FROM THE REAR COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN FROM THE REAR.— Father Time became a familiar figure during the Fair to the hosts who gathered about the music stands on the eastern part of the Grand Plaza, for the barge of the Columbian Fountain rode stern on to the plaza and Time was at the barge's helm. The illustration is an excellent one of the fountain from the [...]

By Randy|2019-05-12T10:11:33-05:00May 21st, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Victoria House (p. 79)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 78 – VICTORIA HOUSE VICTORIA HOUSE.—Great Britain's Building, known as Victoria House, was hardly what might have been expected from the Mother Country. It cost $80,000, was not a particularly imposing structure, though by no means ungraceful, and was closed to the public most of the time. It occupied a charming position on the lake front, being the only structure east of the Lake Promenade. It was a Gothic, [...]

By Randy|2019-05-12T09:49:33-05:00May 18th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

“She has waxed bigger and uglier than ever.” An Englishman’s View of 1893 Chicago

Mr. Harry Hems of Exeter, England, submitted the following report on his return visit to Chicago for the opening of the 1893 World’s Fair. At the Exposition, he worked in the British section of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. His unflattering missive from May 15, 1893, about “the most dangerous town in the world” was reprinted in the June 1 issue of the Irish Builder. Let’s hope the rest of Mr. Hems’ time at the Chicago fair left [...]

By Scott|2019-05-10T18:33:42-05:00May 15th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
Read More

Happy Mother’s Day. Enjoy some Sunshine and Flowers.

Sunshine and Flowers by Irving R. Wiles was exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from Art of the World Illustrated in the paintings, statuary, and architecture of the World's Columbian Exposition Volume II, edited by Ripley Hitchcock (Appleton, 1893).] Mother and child are featured Sunshine and Flowers, a painting by American artist Irving Ramsey Wiles exhibited at the 1893 World’s Fair. The oil painting hung on the north wall of Gallery 6 (United States section) in the [...]

By Scott|2019-05-12T14:56:01-05:00May 12th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
Read More
Copyright 2026 WorldsFairChicago1893 | All Rights Reserved |
Go to Top