An Archive of Past Events
Relating to the 1893 World’s Fair
May 14, 2024: “L Car No. 1 First Look” (Chicago)
The Guild of the Chicago History Museum will host an exclusive first look at the newly renovated elevated train car that took visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair. Attendees will peruse World’s Fair artifacts with curators, meet historic figures who made headlines at the Fair, and hop aboard the L car for a tour as it reopens after its restoration. Period musicians, 19th-century costumes, and a luncheon straight from 1893, will offer Guild members a glimpse of the wonder that fairgoers experienced 131 years ago. “L Car No. 1 First Look” runs from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on [...]
Feb. 4 – Dec. 23, 2023: “Viking’s Voyage” (Geneva History Museum, IL)
One of the largest surviving display artifacts of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition sits in a park in Geneva, Illinois. The Viking ship, a replica of the ancient Viking ship Gokstad, was built in Norway in 1892 and sailed to Chicago in 1893, surviving a long and dangerous non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Since 1995, the ship has stood in Good Templar Park in Geneva, Illinois, and now is managed and preserved by the Friends of The Viking Ship (FOVS). A newly restored nine-foot-tall dragon head and tail of the ship will be on display for the first [...]
Aug 1, 2023: “Perspective of Wonder: A Tour of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” (online)
Cindy Angell Keeling will offer an online presentation “Perspective of Wonder: A Tour of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” about the 1893 World’s Fair on Tuesday, August 1, at 7 pm CT. Which building had the most ostentatious dome? What in the world is "staff," and why was it important to the Fair? Which concession featured a donkey ride up a mountain? Participants are invited to travel back in time with her to find out. Keeling is the author of the historical novel, Dream City Dreaming (Petite Parasol Press, 2023). Attendees of the August 1 presentation will be entered [...]
Apr. 12–14, 2024: Chicago Steampunk Exposition
What do you get when you combine a World’s Fair with retro-futuristic imagination? Come to the 2024 Chicago Steampunk Exposition to find out! Throughout the weekend of Apr. 12–14, 2024, the Expo will host talks, workshops, activities, and shopping for steampunk enthusiasts who enjoy imagining an alternate World’s Columbian Exposition with Gilded Age gothic adventures. The weekend includes live-action role-playing games, an afternoon tea, and an Artists’ Alley & Printers’ Row marketplace. Be on the lookout for gas lamps, mermaids, dirigibles, and vampires as you explore the fantasy fairgrounds. There are 13 bodies hidden somewhere on the fairgrounds [...]
Dec. 5-28, 2025: Joffrey Ballet’s “Columbian Nutcracker” (Chicago)
A festive Ferris Wheel, a Dream City, a flurry of snow, dancing dragons, dancing nuts, and dancing rats! It's that time of the year for Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet to stage their spectacular annual production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 4-28, 2025, at the Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Dr. in Chicago) This ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair ... when young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who is creating the [...]
Sep. 19, 2025-Feb. 28, 2026: “Traces” hints at the White City in Jackson Park
Buildings from the 1893 World’s Fair have been reconstructed in Jackson Park. Sort of. A view of "Traces" looking north from the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, a campus once home to the State Buildings of the 1893 World's Fair. For the past decade, the Chicago Architectural Biennial (CAB) has brought many fascinating, provocative, and engaging installations by architects, artists, and designers to sites around the city. This year’s show, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, aims to be “an invitation to think with others and to set new grounds for the interpretation and design [...]
Sep. 13-Nov 9, 2025: “Nocturne 1893” Haunted House (Schiller Park, IL)
One of Chicagoland’s scariest haunted house attractions invites brave guests to a frightening Fair. 13th Floor Haunted House describes their season attraction “Nocturn 1893”: On the final night of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the lights begin to fade… and something far more sinister takes the stage. You arrive amid the celebration, unaware that behind the dazzling lights, something methodical and monstrous hunts in silence. Guests vanish, rumors spread, and the truth festers beneath the spectacle. The fair’s once brilliant glow has dimmed and the celebration twists into hysteria. You’re not just a witness—you’re part of the madness now. [...]
Sep. 10, 2025: “When Bathurst Shone on the World Stage” (Bathurst, Australia)
The Bathurst Library will host a talk on Australian participation in the 1893 World’s Fair on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Local artist and freelance archivist Kim Bagot-Hiller will discuss “When Bathurst Shone on the World Stage” from 2:30-3:30 PM. The Colony of New South Wales sent people and exhibits on a long journey over the water to share what the Colony had to offer, including displays from Bathurst. The event is free and open to the public at the Bathurst Library (70-78 Keppel Street in Bathurst). Part of the New South Wales exhibit in Horticultural Hall [Image from [...]
May 29–Jun. 1, 2025: Chicago Steampunk Exposition
What do you get when you combine a World’s Fair with retro-futuristic imagination? The Chicago Steampunk Exposition! For 2025, the convention theme of “The Curse of Cthulhu” will add a dimension of Lovecraftian weird horror. Throughout the weekend of May 29–June 1, 2025, the Expo will host talks, workshops, activities, and shopping for steampunk enthusiasts who enjoy imagining an alternate World’s Columbian Exposition with Gilded Age gothic adventures. The weekend includes live-action role-playing games; an afternoon tea; an Underground Market for vendors; a Palace of Fine Arts for artists, musicians, and writers; and a Midway Plaisance for organizations and [...]
Apr. 26, 2025: Help clean up Jackson Park (Chicago)
Jackson Park is hallowed ground for 1893 World’s Fair enthusiasts. To honor Earth Day, Friends of the Parks is sponsoring a clean-up day in Jackson Park and other Chicago parks on Saturday, April 26, 2025. This marks the 40th anniversary of Friends of the Parks’ citywide Earth Day cleanups. Whether you love spending time in Jackson Park or have never before visited, we invite you to join us on a team of volunteers to clean up Jackson Park East. Register for the Jackson Park East team here. Cleanups are scheduled for 9 AM to noon, though local site captains [...]