A Fair to Remember
Posts about the history of
the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago
Seizing Russian Assets at the 1893 Worldโs Fair
Arriving unannounced and dressed in civilian clothing, United States government officials attempted to seize Russian assets in Chicago. In retaliation of the invasion, the Russians abruptly withdrew from a major international alliance. The year was 1893. The Worldโs Columbian Exposition was a trade show on a colossal scale. Foreign countries and businesses sent to the World's Fair in Chicago an enormous quantity of goods to display in the great [...]
When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 4
Third Course: The Head Butler Serves Another Helping Continued from Part 3. โMr. McAllister, with ill-concealed triumph, proceeds this week to rub salt into the wounds so freshly made.โ โThe New York World, April 16, 1893 His thick sauce decidedly unappetizing for Chicagoโs taste, Ward McAllister surveyed the indigestion caused by his arrogant advice column targeted at the city about to host the 1893 Worldโs Columbian Exposition. Nathan [...]
When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 3
Second Course: Chicago Bites Back Continued from Part 2. โThe Worldโs Fair cannot help but open the eyes of our Western Natives to our superiority.โ โWard McAllister Would Chicago frappรฉ its wine too much? Certainly not with the rising temperatures caused by Ward McAllisterโs sanctimonious sermon on proper entertaining during the 1893 Worldโs Fair. Chicago newspapers launched a vigorous counterattack in the days following the publication of McAllisterโs interview [...]
When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 2
First Course: The Frappรฉ Fracas Continued from Part 1. โA new and amusing feature of life in this Republic is the war between Chicago and Mr. Ward McAllister.โ โNew York World, April 16, 1893 Ward McAllister, arbiter of New York Society. [Image from Society As I Have Found It (Cassell & Co., 1890).] The first champagne cork flew across Chicago Societyโs nose on April 9, 1893, in the [...]
When Ward McAllister Sauced Chicago, Part 1
Appetizer: New Yorkโs social dictator โThe real Chicago, which works and hustles and brags about the Fair, cares nothing about McAllister or what he says.โ โThe New York World, April 16, 1893 He has been called โNew York societyโs panjandrum of lavish entertaining,โ โa greater official than the mayor, a custodian of the ultra-fashionables,โ a โflamboyant and outspoken figure,โ the โforemost consultant in pleasureโ and a โmaster of punctilio [...]
When Miss Inquisitive Poked Hercules at the 1893 Worldโs Fair
For six months in 1893, much of the worldโs greatest artworks were on exhibit in the Art Place at the Worldโs Fair in Chicago. Not everyone in town knew how to behave themselves around it. The Palace of Fine Arts by Childe Hassam. Within weeks of the opening of the Columbian Exposition, one oil painting was nearly damaged by an overly enthusiastic visitor to the galleries. Hercules [...]
โThe eighth wonder of the worldโ Gilded Age author Charles Dudley Warner extols the 1893 Worldโs Fair
โThe bigger Chicago is, the more important this world becomes.โ โCharles Dudley Warner American essayist and novelist Charles Dudley Warner (1829โ1900) is perhaps best remembered as the co-author with Mark Twain of The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Their 1873 novel satirizes the greed and political corruption endemic in the United States after the Civil War. The โGilded Ageโ moniker eventually came to describe the era of excess [...]
Death of the Republic: The fiery end to the golden colossus of the 1893 Worldโs Fair
They toppled the Republic at dawn on August 28, 1896. As the first rays of the sun spread across Lake Michigan and into Jackson Park, a funeral pyre lit inside the colossus began to spread up the structure. A flash of light soon appeared in her raised left arm. On a pedestal in the lagoon, the ghostly goddess stood with impassive dignity as muffled cracking within her heralded impending [...]
Frรฉdรฉric Auguste Bartholdiโs Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 3
Continued from Part 2 Frรฉdรฉric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. Charmed with the wonders of the White City As Frรฉdรฉric Auguste Bartholdi prepared to depart Chicago, he was leaving behind his name with the son of a new friend, and he was leaving behind his statue of Washington and Lafayette with an uncertain future. Although Bartholdi reportedly had planned for only a two-week sojourn in Chicago, he had [...]
Frรฉdรฉric Auguste Bartholdiโs Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 2
Continued from Part 1 Frรฉdรฉric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. โI come to see the American side of the Fairโ On September 10, 1893, Frรฉdรฉric Auguste Bartholdi and his wife Jeanne-รmilie arrived in Chicago and settled into the Hotel Metropole. This hotel stood on Michigan Avenue at 23rd Street, just south of the tony Prairie Avenue District called home by many of Chicagoโs elite citizens, including Marshall Field, [...]