RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Chicago Mayor Proposes that the U.S. Should Annex Canada
Saturday, August 19, 1893, was “British Empire Day” at the World’s Fair, and Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison offered some provocative words for the celebration. According to a visitor from Kansas, the mayor declared: “The World’s Exposition now in session is the greatest Fair the world has ever known. The United Sates is the greatest government of the Earth, and we propose to extend our boundaries by annexing Canada to Uncle Sam and Great Britain to Chicago.” The Chicago Tribune reported the speech this way: “I feel much embarrassed, because on a recent occasion I made a speech to the [...]
United States Presidents Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair
Greeting ex-President Benjamin Harrison when he visited the Indiana State Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean September 28, 1893.] Thirteen men who served as President of the United States lived at the time of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Five of them are known to have visited Chicago to see the Fair. Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) 19th U.S. President (Republican) from March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881. Rutherford B. Hayes attended the Dedication Ceremonies in October 1892. He and his daughter Fanny arrived on October 18, attended the [...]
“Below were the nations of the earth”: Riding the Ferris Wheel
James O’Shaughnessy, Jr. regularly reported on the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago for the St. Joseph Herald. In a letter dated June 24, he describes riding on the great Ferris Wheel, which had opened on the Midway Plaisance only three days earlier. Bumping into people from his Missouri hometown while on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds would have been surprise enough, but doing so in the confines he describes is quite a coincidence! At the end of his letter, O’Shaughnessy mentions Jay P. Knight, business manager of the Herald, and Charles Fremont (“Mont”) Cochran, Missouri State Senator and editor of [...]
172. Picturesque World’s Fair – Camels and Drivers in Cairo Street
CAMELS AND DRIVERS IN CAIRO STREET.--There was no end to the variations of scenes presented by the camels and drivers in Cairo Street so often described, but in the actual life of the village never really monotonous. A very patient lot were the camels, else, under the abuse they received, both manual and verbal, they would have often turned upon their masters and beaten them down with their ungainly hoofs. It seemed to be, in his opinion, the duty of each particular driver to refer to his camel when in service, as the lineal descendant of all vile beasts [...]
Are the lights back on at “Devil in the White City”?
A screen version of The Devil in the White City has flickered back to life. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s project to adapt Erik Larson’s 2003 best-selling book about the Columbian Exposition, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, has been on-again, off-again for fifteen years. Hulu pulled the plug on a proposed miniseries in March of 2023, and all has been dark since then. (A history of the screen project can be found here.) Deadline, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and other media outlets reported this week that 20th Century Studios [...]
171. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Turkish Village
THE TURKISH VILLAGE.—Before the Columbian Exposition closed, the Turkish Village had become one of the prominent features of the Midway Plaisance, and drew a host of visitors. Its chief attractions were the theater and the bazaar, though the mosque, camps and cottages, the Persian tent, Cleopatra's needle and the serpentine column were among the curious things to see. Upon the stage of the theater the scenes presented were purely oriental, giving, it was claimed, a just idea of the manners and customs of the various countries included in the Turkish empire, but in reality attracting the untutored American chiefly [...]
Jan. 25, 2025: “At Home at the Fair: Chicago Artists at the World’s Columbian Exposition” (Chicago)
The Vanderpoel Art Association will host a presentation “At Home at the Fair: Chicago Artists at the World’s Columbian Exposition” on Saturday, January 25, 2025 at 1 p.m. Independent art historian Wendy Greenhouse will discuss what Chicago’s fine artists brought to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Although little noticed at the time and in posterity, Chicagoans contributed to the decoration of the exposition’s buildings and grounds and submitted significant paintings and sculptures to the vast but exclusive art exhibition in the fair’s Fine Arts Building. What do their contributions reveal about Chicago’s artistic identity and ambitions as the city [...]
“He was a prince of men” Daniel H. Burnham Remembers John W. Root
The death of architect John W. Root on January 15, 1891, delt a devastating blow to the Columbian Exposition—for which Root served as consulting architect—and even more so to his partner and close friend, Daniel H. Burnham. In the shock and grief from the sudden loss, Burnham offered these generous words on the life and legacy of John Root. It is hard to speak of him, for he had no salient greatness being great in all things. He was the rarest thing—a genius. In his profession he and Richardson are the two who deserve the word. His knowledge was [...]
Jan 14, 2025: World’s Fair Auction #46 closes
World’s Fair Auction #46 is now open, and online bidding closes at 10:00 PM EST on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. The auction catalog can be viewed at: http://www.worldsfairauction.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi. Lots 6 through 36 are items related to the 1893 World’s Fair, and include: an invitation to the Dedication Day ceremonies; a china plate made in Germany depicting the Agricultural Building; a Marshall Field & Company silk showing the Court of Honor; a large selection of medals, coins, badges, and spoons; and much more. World’s Fair Auction offers world’s fair and international exposition items, souvenirs, and historical pieces from all fairs [...]
1893 USPS Columbian Stamps Take a Licking
On January 2, 1893, the United States Postal Service released the first “commemorative” stamps in its history. Postmaster General John Wanamaker contracted the American Bank Note Company to produce the set of sixteen “Columbian” stamps, having denominations ranging from 1 cent to $5 and a total face value of $16.34. The souvenir set depicts various scenes of Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage and tied into the upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. To properly illustrate the subjects, the stamp design adopted a significantly larger size. At 7/8-of-an-inch high by 11/32-of-an-inch wide, the new stamps were the same height but nearly [...]