The State Buildings
The state buildings stood in a sweeping crescent across the northern end of the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Thirty-six states and one group of territories each sponsored a state building at the 1893 World’s Fair. (The only states in 1893 that did not erect a building were Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wyoming.) These architecturally diverse structures often were built of materials native to that state, and several were replicas of notable historical buildings. State buildings served as headquarters for state officials and reception halls for visitors from that state. Some also included displays of local manufactured products, natural resources, and art and handicraft, though main exhibits of these types were in the great exhibit halls.
Explore each of the 37 state buildings using the interactive map below. Click on a building to open an image, summary information, and links to posts and pages about the building, its architects, artists, and exhibits.
Illinois State Building
architect: W. W. Boyington & Company of Chicago
dimensions: 92,388 square feet (the largest of the State Buildings)
cost: $250,000
architectural style: Classic Renaissance, with a 235-foot-high dome,
notable sculptures: Hide and Seek by David Richards; Illinois Welcoming the Nations by Julia M. (Bracken) Wendt
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California State Building
architect: A. Page Brown of San Francisco, California
dimensions: 59,948 square feet (the second-largest state building)
cost: $106,000
architectural style: resembled an old California mission, built using frame construction covered with staff tinted a light gray and a red-tile roof. A 113-foot-high central dome was surrounded by four towers.
notable exhibits: sculptures made of fresh oranges, a train carved out of a giant Redwood tree, a 127-year-old palm tree in the central rotunda, a fountain of red wine
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Indiana State Building
architect: Henry Ives Cobb of Chicago, Illinois
dimensions: 13,672 square feet
cost: $67,369
architectural style: French Gothic, made using Indiana limestone for the towers, entrances, and balustrades, with interior finish using native woods.
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Wisconsin State Building
architect: William Waters of Oshkosh, Wisconsin
dimensions: 9088 square feet
cost: $38,000
architectural style: a modern villa with two semicircular porches, made using brownstone, brick, and terra cotta in the first story and wood above, with a slate roof.
notable sculptures: Forward by Jean P. Miner; The Genius of Wisconsin by Nellie Mears
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Ohio State Building
architect: James W. McLaughlin, of Cincinnati, Ohio
dimensions: 11,544 square feet
cost: $35,000
architectural style: colonial style with a broad semicircular porch, built of wood covered with staff
notable sculpture: These Are My Jewels by Levi Scofield
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Michigan State Building
architect: M. L. Smith & Son of Detroit, Michigan
dimensions: 17,800 square feet
cost: $60,000
architectural style: a three-story, wooden house with a square clock tower designed by Nels Johnson
notable exhibits: The building was open to citizens of Michigan 24 hours-a-day.
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Colorado State Building
architect: H. T. E. Wendell of Denver, Colorado
dimensions: 5064 square feet
cost: $32,000
architectural style: Spanish Renaissance, built using frame construction covered with staff tinted ivory and a red-tile roof.
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Washington State Building
architect: Warren P. Skillings of Seattle, Washington
dimensions: 24,544 square feet
cost: $60,000
architectural style: log construction
notable exhibits: a 2038-foot tall flagstaff made of Puget Sound fir; a 23-ton block of coal; a six-foot cedar vase, the largest piece of wood turning in the world; a model farm; logging, lumber, and quarry industry displays
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Post about the Washington State Building
South Dakota State Building
architect: Van Meter & Perman of Aberdeen, South Dakota
dimensions: 7068 square feet
cost: $17,000
architectural style: an exterior of imitation of stone work made from Yankton cement with an entrance made from Sioux Falls quartzite and Black Hills sandstone, supported by two polished quartzite columns.
notable exhibits: a thirty-inch soil sample, a model farmhouse, fossils Cheyenne River bed, two immense visitors’ registration books.
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Nebraska State Building
architect: Henry Voss of Omaha, Nebraska
dimensions: 7312 square feet
cost: $18,000
architectural style: a modest Corinthian structure
notable exhibits: beet-sugar industry display
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North Dakota State Building
architect: Joseph L. Silsbee, of Chicago
dimensions: 3604 square feet
cost: $11,220
architectural style: a two-story Italian villa structure, built with a frame construction covered with staff
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Kansas State Building
architect: Seymour Davis of Topeka, Kansas
dimensions: 15,176 square feet, cruciform shaped
cost: $23,000
architectural style: Moresque in the lower story, and Grecian in the upper story.
notable exhibits: Prof. Lewis L. Dyche’s panorama of North American mammals, a miniature train of the Kansas & Topeka railroad, a mammoth piece of rock salt, a Liberty Bell made of grains and grasses
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Posts about the Kansas State Building
Texas State Building
architect: James Riely (Riley) Gordon of San Antonio, Texas
dimensions: 6756 square feet
cost: $30,000
architectural style: Early Spanish mission
notable sculptures: Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston by Elizabeth Ney
notable exhibits: Sam Houston painting by S. Seymour Thomas, Davy Crockett painting by William H. Huddle
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Minnesota State Building
architect: William Channing Whitney of Minneapolis, Minnesota
dimensions: 7848 square feet
cost: $36,000
architectural style: Italian Renaissance
notable sculptures: Hiawatha by Jacob Fjielde
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Louisiana State Building
architect: Herod & Andre of New Orleans, Louisiana
dimensions: 3800 square feet
cost: $23,000
architectural style: inspired by a Creole house
notable exhibits: antiques and historical relics
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Missouri State Building
architect: Gunn & Curtis, of Kansas City, Missouri
dimensions: 5824 square feet
cost: $45,000
architectural style: French/Spanish Renaissance with a large elliptical dome, flanked by towers rising from the balcony of the second story, made using Missouri brownstone.
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Pennsylvania State Building
architect: Thomas P. Lonsdale of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
dimensions: 16,948 square feet
cost: $121,000
architectural style: a replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, constructed using Pennsylvania brick and a roof made from Philadelphia tin.
notable sculptures: William Penn and Benjamin Franklin by John J. Boyle
notable exhibits: the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin’s first lightning rod, Thomas Jefferson’s sword, John Hancock Congressional prayer manuscript
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New York State Building
architect: Stanford White (McKim, Mead & White) of New York, New York
dimensions: 20,416 square feet
cost: $150,000
architectural style: an Italian Renaissance structure resembling the Van Rensselaer Manor House near Albany
notable exhibits: a marble mosaic zodiac designed by George Maynard, painting and decoration by Frank D. Millet
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Arkansas State Building
architect: Mrs. Frank Douglas of Chicago, Illinois
dimensions: 5985 square feet
cost: $16,000
architectural style: French rococo, using frame construction covered with staff.
notable exhibits: a fountain made of crystals found at Hot Springs, Arkansas; an interior decorative frieze
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Florida State Building
architect: W. Mead Nalter of Chicago, Illinois
dimensions: 9394 square feet
cost: $20,000
architectural style: a one-fifth-scale replica of Fort Marion in St. Augustine, built using frame construction covered with plaster decorated with coquina shells.
notable exhibits: semitropical fruits, turpentine production, native woods
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Posts about the Florida State Building
Joint Territories Building
Also called the Territory Building
architect: Seymour Davis of Topeka, Kansas
dimensions: 4040 square feet
cost: $11,000
architectural style: composite-style, two-story building made of a wood frame covered with cement
notable exhibits: minerals and agricultural products from Arizona, Oklahoma, and New Mexico; Indian handicrafts and artifacts
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Delaware State Building
architect: E. L. Rice, Jr. of Wilmington, Delaware
dimensions: 4904 square feet
cost: $9,500
architectural style: colonial style
notable exhibits: antiques and historic relics
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Kentucky State Building
architect: Maury & Dodd, of Louisville, Kentucky
dimensions: 7740 square feet
cost: $25,000
architectural style: a typical colonial-era Kentucky home
notable sculptures: Daniel Boone by Enid Yandell
notable exhibits: tobacco and distilling displays
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Posts about the Kentucky State Building
West Virginia State Building
architect: Joseph L. Silsbee of Chicago, Illinois
dimensions: 7401 square feet
cost: $22,070
architectural style: a typical colonial-era West Virginia residence
notable exhibits: a sofa on which the officers sat while Generals Grant and Lee arranged the terms of surrender for the Army of Northern Virginia
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Maryland State Building
architect: Baldwin & Pennington of Baltimore, Maryland
dimensions: 7032 square feet
cost: $25,000
architectural style: classic with Corinthian columns
notable exhibits: oyster industry display
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Utah State Building
architect: Dalles & Hedges of Salt Lake City, Utah
dimensions: 4606 square feet
cost: $12,000
architectural style: modern Renaissance, built using a wood frame covered with staff painted in cream and white. The entrance was facsimile of the Eagle Gate to the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City
notable sculpture: Brigham Young by Cyrus Edwin Dallin
notable exhibits: prehistoric artifacts of the cliff dwellers collected by Don Maguire
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Montana State Building
architect: Galbraith & Fuller of Livingston, Montana
dimensions: 7092 square feet
cost: $19,200
architectural style: single-story Romanesque style building, constructed of wood frame covered with staff, with a gigantic elk over its central arch.
notable exhibits: mineral industry displays
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Posts about the Montana State Building
Idaho State Building
architect: Kirtland Cutter (Cutter & Poetz) of Spokane, Washington
dimensions: 4090 square feet
cost: $28,000
architectural style: a rustic Swiss chalet, of log construction using more than twenty varieties of Idaho timber. This significant design and interior furnishings are considered in the vanguard the American Arts and Crafts movement.
notable exhibits: the Mica Room
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Virginia State Building
architect: Edgerton Rogers of Richmond, Virginia
dimensions: 7300 square feet
cost: $25,000
architectural style: a two-story wood structure that was an exact facsimile of George Washington’s Mount Vernon home
notable exhibits: Martha Washington’s chest of drawers, Thomas Jefferson’s prayer book, Dolley Madison’s harpsichord
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Iowa State Building
architect: Josselyn & Taylor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
dimensions: 19,120 square feet
cost: $40,000
architectural style: constructed from an existing stone structure in Jackson Park known as the “Park Shelter” with a temporary addition to give the appearance of a French chateau.
notable exhibits: corn, a model of the State Capitol building at Des Moines made of glass and grains, a “Flax Palace,” a marble clock built in the form of the State University of Iowa.
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New Jersey State Building
architect: Charles Alling Gifford of Newark, New Jersey
dimensions: 4360 square feet
cost: $20,000
architectural style: a facsimile of Ford Mansion, George Washington’s headquarters at Morristown during the Revolutionary War
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Connecticut State Building
architect: Warren R. Briggs of Bridgeport, Connecticut
dimensions: 4512 square feet
cost: $15,000
architectural style: a typical colonial-style Connecticut residence, built of wood-frame construction.
notable exhibits: antiques and historic relics
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Rhode Island State Building
architect: Stone, Carpenter & Wilson of Providence, Rhode Island
dimensions: 2872 square feet
cost: $11,000
architectural style: Grecian with a spacious porch at each end
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New Hampshire State Building
architect: George B. Howe of Boston, Massachusetts
dimensions: 5464 square feet
cost: $10,000
architectural style: a two-story Swiss chalet, constructed from New Hampshire granite for the first story and wood above, painted in light colors
notable exhibits: Revolutionary and ante-Revolutionary relics, a semi-cycloramic painting of Livermore Falls
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Massachusetts State Building
architect: Peabody & Stearns of Boston
dimensions: 7064 square feet
cost: $44,000
architectural style: a three-story colonial structure modeled after the John Hancock’s mansion on Beacon Hill in Boston, built using frame construction covered with staff imitating cut granite
notable exhibits: Revolutionary and pre-Revolutionary artifacts, Miles Standish’s watch, witchcraft manuscripts, "Scarlet-Letter" criminal law, original engraving by Paul Revere, mahogany secretary used by George Washington
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Vermont State Building
architect: Jarvis Hunt of Weathersfield, Vermont (nephew of Richard Morris Hunt)
dimensions: 4680 square feet
cost: $10,000
architectural style: a Pompeiian residence made of timber and staff (instead of Vermont granite)
notable sculptures: allegorical figures Agriculture and Quarrying by August Lindstrom
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Maine State Building
architect: Charles Sumner Frost of Chicago
dimensions: 4370 square feet
cost: $30,000
architectural style: octagonal building two stories high, constructed from Maine granite
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Posts about the Maine State Building
This building, slightly modified, stands today in Poland Springs, Maine.
SOURCES
Burnham, Daniel H. Final Official Report of the Director of Works of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Garland Pub., 1989.
Dedicatory and Opening Ceremonies of the World’s Columbian Exposition. A. L. Stone, 1893.
Johnson, Rossiter A History of the World’s Columbian Exposition Volume 2 – Departments. D. Appleton and Co., 1897.