RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Sep. 19, 2025-Feb. 28, 2026: “Traces” hints at the White City in Jackson Park
Buildings from the 1893 World’s Fair have been reconstructed in Jackson Park. Sort of. A view of "Traces" looking north from the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, a campus once home to the State Buildings of the 1893 World's Fair. For the past decade, the Chicago Architectural Biennial (CAB) has brought many fascinating, provocative, and engaging installations by architects, artists, and designers to sites around the city. This year’s show, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, aims to be “an invitation to think with others and to set new grounds for the interpretation and design [...]
“It would never do to leave it out”: How the Columbian Exposition was omitted from the U.S. Capitol’s FRIEZE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The United States Capitol almost became the home of a painting to commemorate the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. [Image from Pennsylvania Railroad to the Columbian Exposition (Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 1892).] U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., February 24, 1890 “CHICAGO WINS,” headlines read across the country the next morning. The Midwest metropolis won the bid to host the upcoming World’s Fair on the eighth vote in the House of Representatives. After a six-hour battle on February 24, 1890, the city’s triumphant World’s Fair delegation exited the House chambers. As Mayor Dewitt Cregier, Colonel George R. Davis, the Hon. Adlai [...]
Chicago buzzes in for “Inside Jeopardy Live on Tour”
“Inside Jeopardy Live on Tour” brought Ken Jennings and friends to the Windy City on Friday, September 12. Jeopardy! fans gathered in the historic Chicago Theater for a live taping of the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast, hosted by Michael Davies and Sarah Foss. Special guest appearances by champion Juveria Zaheer and Celebrity Jeopardy! champion W. Kamau Bell rounded out the first half of the night. Then Ken Jennings took the stage to run an interactive Jeopardy! game with the entire audience playing (your WorldsFairChicago1892.com hosts among them). While many clues featured Chicago knowledge, the Final Jeopardy category was a delightful surprise: [...]
“Hopeless helplessness” at the 1893 World’s Fair
The editor of the Chicago Record offered this advice for seeing the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, enormous as it was. Seeing the Fair Nine out of ten people who find themselves for the first time within the World’s Fair gates are aware of a sensation of hopeless helplessness before the baffling array of buildings and perspectives. The doors of half a hundred interesting-looking palaces stand temptingly open, and the visitor halts before them as Bassanio before Portia’s caskets. Which one leads to what he wants most to see? Where shall he begin, since the beginning must be made? Everything [...]
Eugene Field on the Apostle of Toadyism, Ward McAllister
The June 1, 1893, edition of the Boston Globe announced that “Ward McAllister arrived in Chicago yesterday.” The Brooklyn Citizen made the same claim, with some addional spice: “Ward McAllister arrived in Chicago and went at once to the Hotel Metropole. A rumor went around the hotel that Hobart Chatfield Chatfield-Taylor, who, as Spanish Consul, expects to become acquainted with the infanta, had become alarmed at the possibilities of social blunders had sent for Mr. McAllister to tell him how the thing was done in New York.” Had the Dictator of New York Society, the Autocrat of Gotham’s famous [...]
Sep. 10, 2025: “When Bathurst Shone on the World Stage” (Bathurst, Australia)
The Bathurst Library will host a talk on Australian participation in the 1893 World’s Fair on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Local artist and freelance archivist Kim Bagot-Hiller will discuss “When Bathurst Shone on the World Stage” from 2:30-3:30 PM. The Colony of New South Wales sent people and exhibits on a long journey over the water to share what the Colony had to offer, including displays from Bathurst. The event is free and open to the public at the Bathurst Library (70-78 Keppel Street in Bathurst). Part of the New South Wales exhibit in Horticultural Hall [Image from [...]
177. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Lagoon in front of the Art Palace
THE LAGOON IN FRONT OF THE ART PALACE.—It was not a very big sheet of water which lay just south of the Art Palace in the Exposition grounds. It was not imposing in dimensions, though it was by no means small, and it was not such a thoroughfare for launches and gondolas as were other lagoons and connecting straits, but it is doubtful if ever a sheet of water anywhere afforded fairer spectacles or if ever upon one of the same size occurred more pretty incidents of more importance. Here, under the shadow of the most beautiful of structures, [...]
A Garden of Architectural Splendors at the 1893 World’s Fair
Charles H. Dennis (1860–1943) served as the managing editor of the Chicago Record during the 1893 World’s Fair and likely penned these thoughts about the architectural wonders of the Exposition. Exhibits and Their Shelters Theoretically the prime object of a World's Fair is the exposition of the various products and the progress of man's handiwork. For purposes of protection and shelter these exhibits must be roofed over and inclosed; buildings must be constructed to house them, the housings being presumably incidental and ancillary to the things exhibited and serving as a means to an end. In previous fairs this [...]
Dissatisfied with the Court of Honor
Nearly all visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago were stopped in their tracks by the stunning beauty of the Court of Honor, the quadrangle of white palaces surrounding the Grand Basin. At least one visitor, however, had a gripe to pick, as reported (facetiously) by the Chicago Record: “It's really a beastly shame,” said the English visitor at the World's Fair. “It's a beastly shame the way this court of honor has been spoiled, you know.” “What's the matter with it? Architecture all right?” “Yes.” “Ain’t the color scheme good? Don't you like the statue?” “Certainly, but—” [...]
“A realized picture one will never forget”: Windsor Castle in Miniature at the Columbian Exposition
Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair who entered the west portal of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building encountered a remarkable scene on their right. The striking display left no doubt that they had arrived in the exhibition space of Great Britain. A handsome art gallery wore a fanciful crown—a detailed miniature of Windsor Castle, forty-five feet long and eighteen feet wide. This intricate roof-top model enticed visitors to enter the Sunlight Soap pavilion sponsored by Messrs. Lever Brothers of England. A grand model of Windsor Castle crowned the rooftop of the Sunlight Soap pavilion from Lever Brothers [...]