RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
184. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Statue of Benjamin Franklin
THE STATUE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.— It was a natural idea and an appropriate one that the heroic statue of Benjamin Franklin should be the most conspicuous object in the main entrance to the Electricity Building. It was the first time in the history of expositions that a building had been devoted to a display of electrical inventions, and it seemed but right and proper that its approach should be overlooked by the statue of the great man who is associated in the popular mind quite as much with electrical discovery as by his great exploits in statesmanship during the [...]
Refurbishing the “Statue of the Republic”
The replica Statue of the Republic that stands in Jackson Park to commemorate the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is getting a new coat. Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times on March 31, 2026, architectural critic Lee Bey reports that a $1 million restoration project will repair the sculpture, remove worn and flaking gold leaf, and apply a new layer of the micro-thin substance over the entire work (“Jackson Park’s 'Gold Lady' could look like a million again, thanks to a planned restoration") “The work still shines, but not like it once did,” Lee writes. Daniel Chester French’s Statue of the Republic became [...]
183. Picturesque World’s Fair – Main Structure and Dome of the Horticulture Building
MAIN STRUCTURE AND DOME OF THE HORTICULTURE BUILDING.—The admirable features of the Horticulture Building's architecture to be considered were lost to the eye of many for the double reason that its chief attractions were near the center and were to an extent lost in a view of the structure as a whole, and that the space between the Horticulture Building and the West Lagoon was but the width of a roadway and prevented the observer from going a sufficient distance away from the structure to perceive its idea in its entirety. Practically, the only proper point of appreciative observation [...]
A nightly scene of fairy-like loveliness: Illumination of the 1893 White City
Many of the most effusive and eloquent descriptions of the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition focus on the nightly illumination. This electrical spectacle, augmented with flame torches and fireworks, dazzled visitors in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Some cried. Others thought they were glimpsing the heavenly beyond. The luminous poetry seemed like magic, but was actually cutting-edge science. Ponderous steam engines generating some 17,000 horse power drove great dynamos that created the electrical current feeding the 8,000 arc lamps and 130,000 incandescent bulbs that lit the grounds and buildings. The illumination so impressed a student visiting from North Carolina [...]
Apr. 11, 2026 – Feb. 26, 2028: “A Marvel in Motion” tells history of the Ferris Wheel (St. Louis)
The Ferris Wheel had its opening chapter at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and closing chapter at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The Missouri History Museum is honoring its enduring legacy with a new exhibit on the great observation wheel. “A Marvel in Motion” shares the history of George Ferris' mechanical monster that was an amusement as well as a bold example of innovation, ambition, and human ingenuity. Historical photographs, original engineering drawings, and artifacts will guide visitors through the challenges and triumphs of bringing this colossal structure to life. “A Marvel in Motion” occupies a [...]
Stephen Colbert presses the 1893 World’s Fair
While the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is not common fodder for pundits and comedians on late-night TV shows, all that changed on the evening of March 11, 2026, when the host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took on the great Chicago World’s Fair. The U.S. Mint struck its last circulating pennies back in November 2025. We noted the event with a little history about the premiere of elongated coin machines at the 1893 World’s Fair (and a low-tech approach even earlier). [See “Pennies Crushed as Souvenirs of the 1893 World’s Fair” https://worldsfairchicago1893.com/2025/11/14/pennies-crushed-as-souvenirs-of-the-1893-worlds-fair/] Mr. Colbert joined in the [...]
The Devil in the WHAT City?
We love some Jeopardy! aaaaaalmost as much as we love exploring the 1893 World’s Fair. In the Double Jeopardy round on the March 5, 2026, episode, defending one-day champion Quentin Powers found a Daily Double and had this $1,600 clue in the “CITIES IN COLOR” category: “For the color of many buildings, the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago had this nickname referenced in the title of a 2003 bestseller”. “The White City” is the most common moniker given to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This nickname—referring to the uniform alabaster color of most of the main exhibition [...]
182. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Frontier Ox-Cart
A FRONTIER OX-CART.—As a sort of annex to the North Dakota Building, there stood outside, upon the greensward, what was called a Red River Ox-Cart. It stood there as representing the only means of conveyance known up to within a little more than twenty years ago throughout the vast territory now composing the two Dakotas. It was simply a stuffed ox, hitched to a cart. It was an amiable-looking ox, one so amiable that it might have been mistaken for a cow, and the cart was quite as commonplace as the animal. But the thing as a whole, standing [...]
His (almost) last trip over that infernal Ferris Wheel
On his way to visit the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, the editor of a small-town newspaper in Kansas met a fellow traveler from Lebanon, Indiana, (Mr. J. R. Anthony). On their second day at the Fair, the men toured the Midway Plaisance together and eventually found their way to its central attraction. “The Ferris Wheel next demanded our attention. We were reluctant at first about making this circuitous aerial trip, but Mr. Anthony insisted that we try the experiment and we acceded. That peculiar feeling of awe and distress experienced at great heights affected us but little, but [...]
181. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Illinois Building on Illinois Day
THE ILLINOIS BUILDING ON ILLINOIS DAY. — On the occasion of a day of celebration devoted to any particular state, a scene of interest occurred at that state's building. Naturally, the people of the particular commonwealth would gather in thousands about their edifice and there would be much enthusiasm and much noise while the ceremonies of the occasion were in progress. So it was to be expected that Illinois Day, that of the state in which the Exposition was held, would be a day of note and vast pleasant confusion. Expectation was in no way disappointed. There was a [...]