REPRINTS Archives - Page 8 of 34 - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

“A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” by A. B. Ward
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“A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” by A. B. Ward

REPRINTS

“A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” by A. B. Ward

The short story reprinted below is a romance set on the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair. Writing as “A. B. Ward,” Mrs. Alice Ward Bailey (1857–1922) was a prolific author of fiction around the turn of the twentieth century. The mawkish prose and bumpy pacing in this story may explain why the author is essentially forgotten today. Still, her dramatic sketch offers an intimate peek into the lives of fictional inhabitants of the Midway and invites us [...]

By Scott|2022-10-07T08:01:02-05:00October 7th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Captive Balloon, Street in Cairo, Temple of Luxor|0 Comments

A Wild Conglomeration of Absurd Fantasies
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A Wild Conglomeration of Absurd Fantasies

REPRINTS

A Wild Conglomeration of Absurd Fantasies

On May 25, 1893, Mr. E. A. Hodge departed Marion, Kansas, heading to the World’s Columbian Exposition. A few days after arriving in Chicago, he wrote home advising other visitors: “Don’t plan to stay here less than ten days—thirty are better, and if you want to study the exhibits you can put in three months.” (Marion Record, June 9, 1893) His letter of July 7, printed in the July 27 issue of the Marion Record (when he finally had [...]

By Scott|2022-10-04T06:06:59-05:00October 4th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: visitors|0 Comments

“Crazy Enthusiasm” for Ignacy Paderewski at the 1893 World’s Fair
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“Crazy Enthusiasm” for Ignacy Paderewski at the 1893 World’s Fair

REPRINTS, Uncategorized

“Crazy Enthusiasm” for Ignacy Paderewski at the 1893 World’s Fair

Among the constellation of famous (or soon-to-be-famous) visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair, few stars shined as bright as pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860–1941). Wherever he performed, concert halls filled with passionate and adoring fans. The musical celebrity with wild and alluring red hair cast a spell over the women in the audience. One pundit, in the days before Paderewski’s concert at the opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, diagnosed their craze as “Paddymania.” The Musical Courier [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T09:57:36-06:00September 25th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS, Uncategorized|Tags: Ignacy Paderewski, May 2 1893, May 4 1893, Music Hall|0 Comments

“It filled me with a great wonder and excitement” Ignacy Paderewski Remembers the 1893 World’s Fair
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“It filled me with a great wonder and excitement” Ignacy Paderewski Remembers the 1893 World’s Fair

REPRINTS

“It filled me with a great wonder and excitement” Ignacy Paderewski Remembers the 1893 World’s Fair

Who possessed enough star power to follow President Grover Cleveland after he triumphantly opened the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago on May 1, 1893? That honor went to the most famous musician of the time—twenty-two-year-old Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who commanded the stage in Music Hall the next night. His finesse with the ivory keys, his unwieldy mass of luxuriant red hair, and his stage magnetism earned him great celebrity, a devoted and swooning audience, and more than [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T09:57:31-06:00September 24th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Ignacy Paderewski, Music Hall|0 Comments

143. Picturesque World’s Fair – Under the Government Building Dome
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143. Picturesque World’s Fair – Under the Government Building Dome

REPRINTS

143. Picturesque World’s Fair – Under the Government Building Dome

Whatever might have been thought of the beauties of the United States Government Building as a whole, there was but one opinion as to the attraction of one scene its interior presented, that being directly underneath the dome of the great structure, and having for its single unique exhibit a house made within the trunk of one of California's monster trees. The section of trunk shown was thirty feet long and twenty-three feet across, and was divided laterally into [...]

By Randy|2023-12-05T09:39:10-06:00September 19th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: California State Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, U.S. Government Building|0 Comments

This Way to the Egress of the Midway Plaisance
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This Way to the Egress of the Midway Plaisance

REPRINTS

This Way to the Egress of the Midway Plaisance

Had he lived to see it, many aspects of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition would have delighted P. T. Barnum. Visitors to the World’s Fair in Chicago could encounter various displays of “the biggest”—a golden colossus, a mammoth squash, a gigantic cactus, a huge walk-in flour barrel, massive chocolate statues, and an immense rotating wheel … to name but a few. A rather pedestrian object on the Midway Plaisance led to a funny scene that likely would have amused [...]

By Scott|2023-11-28T09:01:39-06:00August 28th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Midway Plaisance, P. T. Barnum, Teresa Dean|0 Comments

Jackson Park oak trees uprooted and destroyed (redux)
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Jackson Park oak trees uprooted and destroyed (redux)

NEWS, REPRINTS

Jackson Park oak trees uprooted and destroyed (redux)

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 [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T09:57:14-06:00August 26th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, REPRINTS|Tags: Jackson Park, Obama Presidential Center|0 Comments

Baggage for 1893 World’s Fair Visitors
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Baggage for 1893 World’s Fair Visitors

REPRINTS

Baggage for 1893 World’s Fair Visitors

In our modern era of frustrating travel, here is a reminder that the more things change the more they stay the same. This complicated advice for train travelers heading to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago comes from April 1893 issue of The Station Agent: “General Passenger Agent De Haven of the Chicago & West Michigan and Detroit, Lansing & Northern railroads has issued a poster to all agents on this subject, which is as well adapted to [...]

By Scott|2022-08-23T08:43:11-05:00August 25th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: visitors|0 Comments

Daniel Burnham on Architecture and “The Intellectual Reflex of the Exposition”
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Daniel Burnham on Architecture and “The Intellectual Reflex of the Exposition”

REPRINTS

Daniel Burnham on Architecture and “The Intellectual Reflex of the Exposition”

What influence would the White City erected for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago likely have on the development of American architecture in the years to come? Pondering that question, architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler noted that Daniel Burnham, Director of Works for the Columbian Exposition, offered a vision that was able to “crystallize into a lucid and specific form a general hazy expectation.” Burnham’s made his comments in this passage for a Chicago newspaper, and Schuyler reprinted them in [...]

By Scott|2022-08-14T06:57:13-05:00August 14th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan|0 Comments

142. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Germania Fountain
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142. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Germania Fountain

REPRINTS

142. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Germania Fountain

THE GERMANIA FOUNTAIN.—Just to the north of the German Building, and showing charmingly against a background of trees which intervened between it and structures to the west, was what was known as the Germania Fountain, a work of art forming part of the German showing. Germania, standing upon a supported globe, held aloft a lamp, while typical additional figures made an effective grouping. . The globe was upheld by four female figures seated upon a lavishly decorated pedestal, which [...]

By Randy|2022-08-11T05:36:23-05:00August 11th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: German exhibit, Germany, Germany Building, Glory of Germania, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments