RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Kaz Rowe Ranks the Weirdest Things at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
YouTuber Kaz Rowe has posted an engaging video “Ranking the Weirdest Things at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair” in which she explores twenty-five quirky, surprising, or just-plain-strange attractions of the Columbian Exposition and ranks them on a scale from “slumgullion” to “some pumpkins.” From the Ferris Wheel to the Mammoth Cheese to the Windmill exhibit, visitors to the Chicago fair were treated to a salmagundi of curiosities. During an interlude in her rankings, Rowe visits with Marissa Croft of the Chicago History Museum to taste two versions of the notorious orange cider that was served at locations across the [...]
“Making the best show for the least money”
It’s what’s on the outside that matters, according to one engineer of the 1893 World’s Fair. That’s because most buildings for the Columbian Exposition were designed to be temporary and constructed using a coating of staff—a mixture of plaster and jute fiber—applied to metal and steel frames and creating superficial appearance of white marble. The excerpt below comes from Joseph Kendall Freitag’s article “The World’s Fair Buildings” in the November 1891 issue of Engineering Magazine. The byline for this pre-fair article gives his title as “Assistant Engineer World’s Columbian Exposition.” J. K. Freitag also served as Superintendent of the [...]
Nixon Waterman Dreams of the World’s Fair
A prolific writer of prose and verse, Nixon Waterman (1859–1944) is credited with having conducted the first all-verse column in newspaper history, for the Chicago Herald. He lived and wrote in Chicago in the years before and during the 1893 World’s Fair. Waterman’s light-hearted and pun-riddled verse, often on topics of Christopher Columbus or the emerging Exposition fairgrounds in Jackson Park, filled spots throughout the run Jewell N. Halligan’s Illustrated World’s Fair, published from 1891 through 1893. “Without his clever short rhymes our pages would have been dull and commonplace,” wrote his editor. Reprinted below is Waterman’s fanciful look [...]
January 2024 Trivia Question
Our seasonal newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. (You can sign up here.) The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The January 2024 Trivia Question The Ceremonies for Closing Day of the 1893 World’s Fair, scheduled for October 30, were abruptly cancelled following the murder of Mayor Carter Harrison two days earlier. The celebration was to have ended with the entire audience being led by choral director William L. Tomlins in the singing of what song? A. “After the Ball” B. “Columbian Hymn” C. “Hail, Columbia” D. “Auld Lang [...]
Feb. 10, 2024: “S. S. Christopher Columbus with Todd Gordon” (Plymouth, WI)
A program on the S.S. Christopher Columbus whaleback steamer, used to transport visitors to and from the 1893 World’s Fair, will be sponsored by the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Part of the Center’s “Second Saturdays — Journeys Into Local History” series, “S. S. Christopher Columbus with Todd Gordon” will explore the history of the steamer that was built to ferry passengers from downtown Chicago to the fairgrounds. The only passenger whaleback ever built, the S.S. Christopher Columbus had a forty-year career on Lake Michigan. The lecture will be held at the Plymouth Arts [...]
159. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Front of the Agriculture Building and Lawn
THE NORTH FRONT OF THE AGRICULTURE BUILDING, AND LAWN.—Between the magnificent Agriculture Building and the Grand Basin was a lawn not very broad, but nearly a thousand feet in length, resting the eye with its strip of green, and giving room for a just estimate of the architectural beauties displayed above. In the view given here is afforded not only a charming perspective of the Agriculture Building's graceful front, but of two Exposition features which commanded general admiration and were among the first to perish after the Fair ended. In the distance is seen the greater portion of the [...]
Christmas to a child
“The child dancing with life and delight all through the days before Christmas is a fair emblem of what society should be in the presence of coming events … The meeting of Nations in 1893, the meeting on the shores of Lake Michigan, the meeting in a young republic, the meeting in such a period of intelligence unite to compose an event which should be to all Americans more than a Christmas to a child. —Prof. David Swing (1830–1894) in “Inspiration in Events” The Illustrated World’s Fair Sept. 1891, p 14.
Doctor Who goes to the 1893 World’s Fair
If you could travel anywhere in space and time, what would be your destination? If there is a golden colossus, a giant rotating wheel, mammoth chocolate statues, and a tower of oranges involved, then get yourself to the Doctor. Doctor Who and the TARDIS take a trip the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Max Kashevsky’s “All’s Fair” a new audio-drama included in the collection Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles Volume 05: Everywhere and Anywhere from Big Finish. Starring Jacob Dudman (as the Doctor) and Safiyya Ingar (as companion Valarie Lockwood), the story is described as: [...]
Ron Soule’s “Escape from the Emerald City” imagines an origin story for Oz at the 1893 World’s Fair
Escape from the Emerald City by Ron Soule. Independently published, 2023. 105 pages. Hardcover, $14.95. ISBN 9798395968029. Paperback, $7.95. ISBN 9798395968111. In the growing library of “fairground fiction,” stories that involve historical figures offer a special treat to readers who enjoy imagining how famous (and soon-to-be-famous) people experienced the 1893 World’s Fair. A then-unknown traveling salesman from Chicago visited the fairgrounds on several occasions with his wife and four sons. Only a few years later he would burst onto the literary scene with such acclaimed children’s books such as Mother Goose in Prose (1897) and The Wonderful Wizard of [...]
Did you see the 1893 Fair? Prove it with a “Certificate of Visitation to the World’s Columbian Exposition”
You bought your train ticket and booked your lodging in Chicago, traveled to Jackson Park and paid your fifty-cent admission. You’ve finally made it into the City of Wonders, the Dream City, the White City … the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. How will anyone believe you are here if you don’t purchase an official “Certificate of Visitation” to show friends back home? T. Dart Walker’s drawing “In the Rotunda of the Administration Building” depicts a busy ground floor in the capitol building of the World’s Fair. Visitors could purchase a “Certificate of Visitation” here. [Image from Harper’s [...]