REPRINTS – Page 8 – Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

130. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fire-Works July 4th from the roof of the Manufactures Building
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130. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fire-Works July 4th from the roof of the Manufactures Building

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130. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fire-Works July 4th from the roof of the Manufactures Building

FIRE-WORKS JULY 4th FROM THE ROOF OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.--A view of just such quality as was never had before and may not be had again for a long time was gained by those of the World's Fair visitors who witnessed a fire-works display from such vantage ground as the roof of the Manufactures Building afforded. Upon that great area in mid-air a host of people could be assembled and, on the warm summer nights, thousands improved the opportunity [...]

By Randy|2021-11-25T15:48:41-06:00November 25th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: fireworks, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

129. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Spanish Caravels – Pinta and Nina
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129. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Spanish Caravels – Pinta and Nina

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129. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Spanish Caravels – Pinta and Nina

THE SPANISH CARAVELS, " PINTA" AND " NIÑA."—The Spanish Caravels should have had their names painted on their sides to distinguish them apart; at least, so thought many of the visitors to the Fair; for their build was singularly alike with the " Santa Maria " and " Pinta." The " Niña " was distinguishable enough, as she had no raised deck at the bow, did not overhang like the others, and had no square sails of the ordinary [...]

By Randy|2021-11-10T07:05:54-06:00November 10th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Alonzo Pinzon, Caravels, Christopher Columbus, Niña, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Pinta, Santa Maria, South Pond, Yanez Pinzon|3 Comments

128. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Falls of the Columbian Fountain
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128. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Falls of the Columbian Fountain

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128. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Falls of the Columbian Fountain

THE FALLS OF THE COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN.—Viewed from its front, and at a point not remote, the overflow of the Columbian Fountain afforded the spectacle of one of the most charming of'cataracts. The mass of water tumbled down from level to level in a great foaming semi-circle, until, finally, it plunged into the Grand Basin, a white sheet impress-ive in its beauty. Wider than the famous Falls of Minnehaha, though with not quite so much descent, the falls of the [...]

By Randy|2021-10-27T04:42:44-05:00October 27th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Columbian Fountain, gondolas, Grand Basin, MacMonnies Fountain, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

127. Picturesque World’s Fair – Eastern Portal of Machinery Hall
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127. Picturesque World’s Fair – Eastern Portal of Machinery Hall

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127. Picturesque World’s Fair – Eastern Portal of Machinery Hall

EASTERN PORTAL OF MACHINERY HALL.—The view here given is an admirable one of the eastern entrance to Machinery Hall and makes plain the remarkable architectural style of that great edifice. The entrance has been described at length, but only such a view as this, the reproduction of a photograph taken from the Agriculture Building at a point directly across the canal, could bring out the charming details. The portico of this entrance was a popular resort because here was [...]

By Randy|2021-10-16T05:24:37-05:00October 16th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, gondolas, Machinery Hall, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, South Canal|0 Comments

“Jennie” survived the Great Chicago Fire and visited the 1893 World’s Fair
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“Jennie” survived the Great Chicago Fire and visited the 1893 World’s Fair

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“Jennie” survived the Great Chicago Fire and visited the 1893 World’s Fair

The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition celebrated the twenty-second anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 with “Chicago Day” on October 9, 1893. With around three-quarter-of-a-million people filling the fairgrounds, it was thought to be the largest peaceful gathering in human history. Among the visitors was one special guest who had survived the Fire due to the dedication her “mother,” ten-year-old Fannie Belle Becker. The article below, from the October 10, 1893, issue of the Chicago Tribune, describes the [...]

By Scott|2021-10-09T12:56:48-05:00October 9th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Chicago Day|1 Comment

126. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Penobscot Indian Camp
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126. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Penobscot Indian Camp

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126. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Penobscot Indian Camp

THE PENOBSCOT INDIAN CAMP.—To those familiar with the history of the Indians who lived near the Atlantic coast and so came into early contact with the whites, the Penobscot Indian Camp, or Village, was an object of interested study. There were four families of Penobscots, or, as they were once called, "Panawanskeks," and there was also a lodge of Iroquois, peopled by a few of the living representatives of that famous tribe, and forming a part of the New [...]

By Randy|2021-09-18T04:39:43-05:00September 18th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: American Indian Village, Iroquois Indians, New York, Penobscot Indian Camp, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

125. Picturesque World’s Fair – Arab and Bedouin Horsemen
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125. Picturesque World’s Fair – Arab and Bedouin Horsemen

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125. Picturesque World’s Fair – Arab and Bedouin Horsemen

ARAB AND BEDOUIN HORSEMEN.—Just what the distinction was between Arabs and Bedouins, visitors to the Wild East Show were puzzled to determine. Those of them who had ever paid attention to the terms counted "Arab " as a general description, including all the desert dwellers, and " Bedouin " as something more definite, applying to a single tribe or nation. They left the Wild East Show with just as much and no more information on the subject than they [...]

By Randy|2021-09-06T03:35:59-05:00September 6th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Bedouin Camp-Wild East Show, Ottoman's Arab Camp, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Wild-East Show|0 Comments

“The dearest spot on earth” at the 1893 World’s Fair
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“The dearest spot on earth” at the 1893 World’s Fair

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“The dearest spot on earth” at the 1893 World’s Fair

What some visitors thought of as exorbitant prices for food and lodging in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition became the stuff of legend. The fanciful tale told below, originally published in the July 2, 1895, Chicago Tribune and reprinted in newspapers across the country, captures one not-so-fond memory of the 1893 World’s Fair. We can only guess to the identity of the restaurant he had patronized. A photograph by Charles Dudley Arnold of the lovely Café [...]

By Scott|2021-08-24T20:30:51-05:00August 29th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|0 Comments

124. Picturesque World’s Fair – State Buildings Looking South
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124. Picturesque World’s Fair – State Buildings Looking South

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124. Picturesque World’s Fair – State Buildings Looking South

STATE BUILDINGS—LOOKING SOUTH.—The city of State Buildings at the north end of the Fair Grounds afforded many interesting bird's-eye views, of which one of the prettiest is given in the accompanying illustration. The view taken is from an elevated point at the northern extremity of the inclosed area, and very nearly at the center east and west. In the foreground, at the right, appears the log-built chalet of Idaho, beyond which is the Maryland Building, the gable of that [...]

By Randy|2021-08-23T05:12:58-05:00August 23rd, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Connecticut State Building, Delaware State Building, Guatemala Building, Illinois State Building, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Maryland State Building, Massachusetts State Building, New Jersey State Building, New York State Building, Palace of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania State Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Rhode Island State Building, U.S. Government Building, Vermont State Building, Virginia State Building|0 Comments

An Endless Ride on the Intramural Railway at the 1893 World’s Fair
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An Endless Ride on the Intramural Railway at the 1893 World’s Fair

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An Endless Ride on the Intramural Railway at the 1893 World’s Fair

One challenge for the designers of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was finding ways to transport visitors around the enormous fairgrounds. Walking the main grounds—almost a mile and a half from north to south and three-quarters of a mile wide across the south end, and a mile-long Midway Plaisance—exhausted many fairgoers. Rolling chairs offered a personal mode of transportation around the grounds, while watercraft such as electric launches and Venetian gondolas provided scenic routes through the waterways. The fastest [...]

By Scott|2023-10-02T19:44:40-05:00July 31st, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Intramural Railway|0 Comments

123. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Boiler-Room of Machinery Hall
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123. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Boiler-Room of Machinery Hall

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123. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Boiler-Room of Machinery Hall

THE BOILER-ROOM OF MACHINERY HALL.—Never before was such a boiler-room as that which delighted engineers in Machinery Hall. It must needs be enormous, for it supplied the force for all the lights and machinery of the great buildings, but those who had never seen it were none the less astonished when they entered the great room. It extended north and south in the annex, and to look down it was like looking down a street the end of which [...]

By Randy|2021-07-27T06:51:41-05:00July 27th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: boiler-room, Machinery Hall, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

122. Picturesque World’s Fair – South Front of the Manufactures Building
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122. Picturesque World’s Fair – South Front of the Manufactures Building

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122. Picturesque World’s Fair – South Front of the Manufactures Building

SOUTH FRONT OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—While not its greatest frontage, the south end of the Manufactures Building was most familiar to Exposition visitors, facing as it did to the Court of Honor and affording between it and the Grand Basin a vantage point for seeing the fountains at play and the illumination of the buildings at night. The illustration above shows this frontage as well as that on the west, adjacent to the canal and the East Lagoon. The [...]

By Randy|2021-07-07T05:36:10-05:00July 7th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Columbian Fountain, Court of Honor, Grand Basin, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Richard Hunt|0 Comments

121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights
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121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights

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121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights

THE GRAND BASIN AT NIGHT—SHOWING SEARCH-LIGHTS.—One of the charms of the night view over the Grand Basin was that it was always new, atmospheric or other causes producing varied effects, and the scene on one occasion being entirely different from that presented on another. And not only were atmospheric conditions fluctuating, but the artificial ones produced were made still more so, a new experience to the sight-seer after dark being thus assured beyond all peradventure. Here the great element [...]

By Randy|2021-06-25T05:22:10-05:00June 25th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Grand Basin, illumination, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, search lights|0 Comments

“One feels inclined to make his peace with God and man”: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel
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“One feels inclined to make his peace with God and man”: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel

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“One feels inclined to make his peace with God and man”: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel

The great Ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance of the World’s Columbian Exposition opened to the public on June 21, 1893. A North Carolina visitor to the 1893 World’s Fair sent this correspondence to the Charlotte Observer about his experience riding the famous Ferris Wheel: Yesterday we spent the day in the Midway Plaisance. Among the first of our experiences was a ride on the great Ferris Wheel. This immense structure, consuming in its various parts over 4,000 tons [...]

By Scott|2021-04-30T08:43:48-05:00June 21st, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Ferris Wheel|4 Comments

120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs
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120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs

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120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs

A LOAD OF MICHIGAN PINE LOGS.—The lumber industry in Michigan is conducted on a grand scale, and something of the methods pursued was illustrated by a firm which contributed a single load of logs to the Exposition. Twenty-five saw logs were shown in a single load at the Centennial Exposition. Michigan simply doubled this. Never before was seen such a load of logs. It consisted of fifty magnificent lengths of white pine, borne on a single sled, containing forty-six [...]

By Randy|2021-06-14T08:09:17-05:00June 14th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Forestry Building, Logger's Camp, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building
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119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building

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119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building

THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING.—The Transportation Building was unique among the great structures of the Columbian Exposition in that it was the single departure from a general rule, the contrast and the foil to all the others. It was distinct in its style of architecture, and alone was decorated exteriorly in colors. It was not of those buildings which won for the Exposition the title of "The White City." The main building, located just west of the south end of the [...]

By Randy|2021-06-08T09:23:03-05:00May 30th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Dankmar Adler, Golden Door, Louis Sullivan, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building|0 Comments

A Room with a View … of Diana
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A Room with a View … of Diana

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A Room with a View … of Diana

In late November of 1892, Moses P. Handy moved into his new office inside the Administration Building on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds in Jackson Park. As Chief of the Department of Publicity and Promotion, Handy had a staff of between four and forty-five, including local newspapermen Paul Hull and Sam V. Steele, both well-known among Chicago’s writers. The Chicago Times (November 29, 1892) reported on the move-in and on the Publicity Chief’s impressive view of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ marvelous statue [...]

By Scott|2021-05-24T10:15:31-05:00May 24th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Diana, Moses P. Handy|0 Comments

Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds
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Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

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Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

Several media outlets, including the Guardian and People, are reporting on Chicago’s use of feral cats to beat back our nationally recognized rat population. It’s old news. We’ve been relying on our feline friends since at least the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Not many people are aware that the World’s Fair has a cat,” wrote the Chicago Tribune in September 1893. “This ignorance on the part of visitors is largely due to the fact that the cat does not appear [...]

By Scott|2021-05-16T12:56:25-05:00May 17th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Machinery Hall, Midway Plaisance|0 Comments

118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer
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118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer

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118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer

THE GREAT STEAM HAMMER.—One exhibit in the Transportation Building always attracted curious inspection. To many unfamiliar with the heavy machinery used in the vast manufactories of today, its use was not apparent, but to those informed in such fields it was an object of decided interest. This was the model of the monster steam hammer in use by the Bethlehem Iron Company, of Pennsylvania, the largest steam hammer in the world. Though painted to represent iron, the model was [...]

By Randy|2025-05-28T09:22:45-05:00May 9th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Bethlehem Iron Steam Hammer, Dankmar Adler, Louis Sullivan, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building|0 Comments

117. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Wisconsin Building
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117. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Wisconsin Building

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117. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Wisconsin Building

THE WISCONSIN BUILDING.—It was intended that the Wisconsin Building should be indicative of the resources of the state, and such it was in fact. All the visible material came from Wisconsin, the brown stone, the pressed brick, the shingles and even the plate glass being home products. A handsome building was the result, too. The rich brown stone has long been famous for such use, and the design of the structure was such as to enable its employment to [...]

By Randy|2021-04-26T06:04:24-05:00May 1st, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, State Buildings, Wisconsin State Building|0 Comments

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