RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
In Praise of the Wondering Crowds at the Columbian Exposition
Abby Frances Hamlin Abbott (1837–1907) was the daughter of Hannibal Hamlin, the 15th Vice President of the United States (1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln’s first term), and the wife of Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of The Outlook. In her “Just Among Ourselves” column in the December 1893 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, Mrs. Lyman Abbott extols the comportment and curiosity of Columbian Exposition crowds: Nothing at the World’s Fair interested me so much as the people who visited it. The great company of honest, thoughtful, inquiring men, women and children, awed into quiet by the [...]
Aug. 25, 2026: “What Survives: Exploring the History of Jackson Park” (Chicago)
On August 25, 2026, the Hyde Park Historical Society will host a presentation by researcher and historian Patricia Morse on “What Survives: Exploring the History of Jackson Park.” Attendees will learn the history of Jackson Park and find out what can still be seen from its past. The talk is free and open to the public and begins at 7 PM at the Hyde Park Historical Society (5529 South Lake Park in Chicago).
187. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Vermont Building
THE VERMONT BUILDING.—The building of the State of Vermont was quite unlike any other State Building and, for that matter, quite unlike anything else anywhere. It contained no exhibits but was a sufficient exhibit in itself. It was in the style of architecture made familiar by the excavations at Pompeii. Passing beneath a decorated portal, the visitor entered a paved courtyard, in the center of which was a fountain representing Youth renewing the Stream of Life. All the floors of the building and the paving of the courtyard was of marble from Vermont’s famous quarries. Stone lavishly carved was [...]
186. Picturesque World’s Fair – From the Balcony of the Woman’s Building
FROM THE BALCONY OF THE WOMAN'S BUILDING.—The view afforded from the balcony of the Woman's Building might have been enjoyed by thousands more than was really the case had the broad floor of that balcony been well supplied with seats. For some reason, however, this was not the case, and the many, who in the shade the building afforded in the afternoon might have sat at ease enjoying the prospect across the lagoons and wooded island, with the National Government and Fisheries and other buildings in the distance, were ordinarily compelled to seek a resting-place elsewhere. In the view [...]
Fourth at the Fair, Part 18: 330,542 People Celebrate
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.
Fourth at the Fair, Part 17: Fireworks of Unequaled Grandeur
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.
Fourth at the Fair, Part 16: Music for Independence Day
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.
Fourth at the Fair, Part 15: Around the Fairgrounds
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.
Fourth at the Fair, Part 14: J. R. Burton’s Address to the Denizens of the Midway
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.
Fourth at the Fair, Part 13: A “patriotic pleasure-seeking procession” on the Midway Plaisance
The Fourth of July at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the biggest day yet at the Fair.