RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Sweet Treats Born at the 1893 World’s Fair
WTTW’s Chicago Stories series has a new episode titled “Candy Capital” that includes a segment about the sweet treats born at the 1893 World’s Fair. The profile discusses Milton Hershey, Frederick and Louis Rueckheim's precursor to Cracker Jack, Bertha Palmer's brownies, and more. The reversed shot of the Court of Honor (shown above) was a little strange, though. If you have recovered from your Halloween candy pile, check out their short stories and images from the Columbian Exposition at https://interactive.wttw.com/chicago-stories/candy-capital/sweet-treats-born-at-the-1893-chicago-world-fair Not full yet? Check out our stories about “Maillard’s Mammoth Chocolate Statues” and “The World’s Fair in a Cup [...]
Dec. 2-27, 2023: Joffrey Ballet’s “Columbian Nutcracker” (Chicago)
A festive Ferris Wheel, a Dream City, a flurry of snow, dancing dragons, dancing nuts, and dancing rats! It's that time of the year for Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet to stage their spectacular annual production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 2-7, 2023, at the Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Dr. in Chicago) This ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair ... when young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who is creating the [...]
The Marvel-ous Midway of “Loki” Season 2, Episode 3 “1893”
On a branched timeline in the Marvel® multiverse, a few time travelers, a Norse trickster god, and an artificial intelligence disguised as an orange clock (and thought to be a ghost) visit the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair. Loki Season 2, Episode 3 “1893,” which premiered on Oct. 19, 2023, treated viewers to one of the most beautiful and faithful depictions of the World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds yet made for film or television. This wide-angle view of the 1893 World's Fair created for Marvel's Loki S2E3 depicts the tower of Chinese Village and Theater on the [...]
The Great Aussie Apple Race to the 1893 World’s Fair
In the spring of 1893, two apple barrels in New South Wales, Australia, embarked on separate paths in a race around the globe. Heading in opposite directions, they reunited inside the Horticultural Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Which apples won, red or gold? How many days did it take? How did they stay fresh for so long? Find out about their journey in the story below, from the June 7, 1893, issue of the Chicago Record. Part of the New South Wales exhibit in Horticultural Hall [Image from Kilburn stereoscope card 7951.] The [...]
157. Picturesque World’s Fair – Camel and Driver in Cairo Street
CAMEL AND DRIVER IN CAIRO STREET.—The Cairo Street camels had varied duties to perform, at one time being hurried along with much mauling and gesticulation to convey a rider, or perhaps a couple, from one end of the street to the other and unload them hurriedly to make room for other experimenting people, and again, bedecked with cumbrous trappings, led along the same boisterous thoroughfare to take part in some procession alleged to be a duplicate of what may be seen in the streets of the genuine Cairo on the Nile. It is when prepared for his appearance in [...]
Walt Disney Birthplace Home Opens in Chicago
For two days, lines stretched around the block as hundreds of visitors waited to enter the small cottage of an 1893 World’s Fair worker. Perhaps they came because his son, Walt Disney, was born in this home at 2156 N. Tripp Avenue in Chicago. Long lines of visitors stretched around the block to get into the newly opened Walt Disney Birthplace Home on October 14-15, 2023. The Walt Disney Birthplace Home opened to the public for the first time during Open House Chicago on October 14-15, 2023. Walt’s father, Elias Disney built the modest house and moved [...]
Sep. 14, 2023 – Jan. 13, 2024: Harriet Monroe & the Open Door (Chicago)
The temporary exhibition Harriet Monroe & the Open Door at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago showcases the fascinating line connecting today’s world-renowned poetry magazine back to a poem written for the 1893 World’s Fair. Archival documents and photographs on display with accompanying descriptive texts tell the story of Harriet Monroe, her “Columbian Ode” poem, and the landmark copyright lawsuit that helped launch Poetry magazine. Part of the exhibition display for Harriet Monroe & the Open Door at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. In 1891, the Committee on Ceremonies of the Columbian Exposition invited Harriet Monroe to write [...]
An Awful Memory from Chicago Day, 1893
Described as “the greatest gathering in history” and the “grandest spectacle in modern times,” Chicago Day smashed all attendance figures at the 1893 World's Fair. On October 9, over three-quarters of a million of people gathered on the fairgrounds to commemorate the twenty-second anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and to celebrate the great city that emerged from the flames to host the Columbian Exposition. One float in the evening parade offered a most poignant reflection of the horrific event that many in the crowd that day still remembered from experience. This description of the “awful memory” [...]
“No Holmes Barred!” A World’s Fair Radio Show Podcast
History, hilarity, and histrionics characterize a new satirical radio-show podcast about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. No Holmes Barred! is written, directed, and produced by Daniel Ciarrocchi (you may have seen him on Jeopardy!) and tells the dual stories of Daniel Burnham’s construction of the fairgrounds in Jackson Park and the bloody trail of murderer H. H. Holmes in nearby Englewood. If this premise sounds like a certain best-selling work of narrative nonfiction that introduced millions of readers to the majesty of the White City and the devilish doings of the alleged serial killer, you’d be right … [...]
Nov. 12, 2023: “Collectibles from Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” (Chicago)
The Glessner House in Chicago is hosting an event showcasing collections from both the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the 1933-34 Century of Progress. On Sunday, November 12, 2023, "Collectibles from Chicago's Two World's Fairs" will bring together several World's Fair collectors who will exhibit a portion of their collections, ranging from guidebooks, postcards, tickets, and commemorative coins to wall hangings, glass and ceramic tchotchkes, plates, and silver spoons. We will be bringing some items from our collection and look forward to meeting other collectors or Columbian Exposition ethusiasts who attend. Schedule: 2:00 - 3:15 pm: Exhibit 3:15 - [...]