RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Apr. 11, 2026 – Feb. 26, 2028: “A Marvel in Motion” tells history of the Ferris Wheel (St. Louis)
The Ferris Wheel had its opening chapter at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and closing chapter at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The Missouri History Museum is honoring its enduring legacy with a new exhibit on the great observation wheel. “A Marvel in Motion” shares the history of George Ferris' mechanical monster that was an amusement as well as a bold example of innovation, ambition, and human ingenuity. Historical photographs, original engineering drawings, and artifacts will guide visitors through the challenges and triumphs of bringing this colossal structure to life. “A Marvel in Motion” occupies a [...]
Stephen Colbert presses the 1893 World’s Fair
While the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition is not common fodder for pundits and comedians on late-night TV shows, all that changed on the evening of March 11, 2026, when the host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took on the great Chicago World’s Fair. The U.S. Mint struck its last circulating pennies back in November 2025. We noted the event with a little history about the premiere of elongated coin machines at the 1893 World’s Fair (and a low-tech approach even earlier). [See “Pennies Crushed as Souvenirs of the 1893 World’s Fair” https://worldsfairchicago1893.com/2025/11/14/pennies-crushed-as-souvenirs-of-the-1893-worlds-fair/] Mr. Colbert joined in the [...]
The Devil in the WHAT City?
We love some Jeopardy! aaaaaalmost as much as we love exploring the 1893 World’s Fair. In the Double Jeopardy round on the March 5, 2026, episode, defending one-day champion Quentin Powers found a Daily Double and had this $1,600 clue in the “CITIES IN COLOR” category: “For the color of many buildings, the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago had this nickname referenced in the title of a 2003 bestseller”. “The White City” is the most common moniker given to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This nickname—referring to the uniform alabaster color of most of the main exhibition [...]
182. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Frontier Ox-Cart
A FRONTIER OX-CART.—As a sort of annex to the North Dakota Building, there stood outside, upon the greensward, what was called a Red River Ox-Cart. It stood there as representing the only means of conveyance known up to within a little more than twenty years ago throughout the vast territory now composing the two Dakotas. It was simply a stuffed ox, hitched to a cart. It was an amiable-looking ox, one so amiable that it might have been mistaken for a cow, and the cart was quite as commonplace as the animal. But the thing as a whole, standing [...]
His (almost) last trip over that infernal Ferris Wheel
On his way to visit the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, the editor of a small-town newspaper in Kansas met a fellow traveler from Lebanon, Indiana, (Mr. J. R. Anthony). On their second day at the Fair, the men toured the Midway Plaisance together and eventually found their way to its central attraction. “The Ferris Wheel next demanded our attention. We were reluctant at first about making this circuitous aerial trip, but Mr. Anthony insisted that we try the experiment and we acceded. That peculiar feeling of awe and distress experienced at great heights affected us but little, but [...]
181. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Illinois Building on Illinois Day
THE ILLINOIS BUILDING ON ILLINOIS DAY. — On the occasion of a day of celebration devoted to any particular state, a scene of interest occurred at that state's building. Naturally, the people of the particular commonwealth would gather in thousands about their edifice and there would be much enthusiasm and much noise while the ceremonies of the occasion were in progress. So it was to be expected that Illinois Day, that of the state in which the Exposition was held, would be a day of note and vast pleasant confusion. Expectation was in no way disappointed. There was a [...]
Powerlifting at the 1893 World’s Fair
The newspaper account reprinted below is a reminder that marble was mostly a myth at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The destination for this faux stone block may have been the Ruins of Yucatan exhibit. Built for a Heavy Load People who were on the platform of the intramural opposite the Anthropological Building yesterday about 3 o’clock were treated to a sight which almost made them doubt their eyes. A wagon drove up whose heavy wheels and sturdy timbers seemed best fitted for carrying Krupp guns. The axles creaked, or seemed to creak, under the enormous block of Assyrian [...]
An Engine of Destruction in the Krupp Gun Pavilion
In her memoir about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Halcyon Days in the Dream City, Mrs. D. C. Taylor describes a day when she explored the area of Jackson Park around the South Pond. The visitor from Kankakee, Illinois, “wandered away by the fortress where is housed, black and baleful, with its great yawning mouth waiting to belch forth death, the great Krupp gun; a fearful hideous thing, breathing of blood and carnage, a triumph of barbarism crouching amid the worlds’ triumphs of civilization.” The Krupp Pavilion of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which housed the mammoth [...]
180. Picturesque World’s Fair – Looking East from the Golden Door
LOOKING EAST FROM THE GOLDEN DOOR.—Very few views, possibly not more than one, were taken eastward from the Golden Door. That remarkable portal was so striking in itself that it did not occur, apparently, to any one of the various photographers to take any picture in its vicinity which did not include the glittering entrance. There were numerous views near the southern extremity of the lagoons, but there was only one taken at the extreme end and looking across both the East and West Lagoons toward the Manufactures Building, which gigantic structure necessarily cut off the view from everywhere. [...]
Season’s Readings 2025: New Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition
New books explore the colorful campus and souvenir coins of the Columbian Exposition and profile a host of people associated with the Fair, including architect Stanford White and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, photographer Alice Austen, exhibitors Nancy Green (who portrayed Aunt Jemima) and Louis Vuitton, and another investigation of H.H. Holmes. That devil also creeps into a supernatural thriller. Note: We provide this announcement of new titles without any compensation from authors or publishers. We encourage shopping through independent local book dealers and online platforms that support them, such as IndieBound and Bookshop. NONFICTION The World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago World's [...]