RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Ida B. Wells documentary airs on WTTW-Chicago
Civil rights activist Ida B. Wells spoke truth to power through her pamphlet The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in The World’s Columbian Exposition. 10,000 copies were distributed at the 1893 World’s Fair. “With the eyes of the world on Chicago,” explains a new documentary film about Wells, “she would use the international stage to expose the terror of lynching.” On Friday, May 21, 2021, Chicago public television station WTTW will air Ida B. Wells, a one-hour Chicago Stories special at 8 pm. Along with a companion website, the show paints a deeply humanizing portrait of a [...]
Ballyhoo on the Midway Plaisance
“All new words are created because a new sound is needed to voice an idea, usually also new.” —Charles Wolverton The word ballyhoo, according to the renowned and authoritative Oxford English Dictionary (OED), means a “a showman’s touting speech, or a performance advertising a show.” It can be used as a mass noun to mean “bombastic nonsense; extravagant or brash publicity; noisy fuss.” Though this “carnival” usage has uncertain origins, the OED and other etymology sources cite the first known examples as coming from the early 1900s. Or, did ballyhoo originate on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World’s [...]
Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds
Several media outlets, including the Guardian and People, are reporting on Chicago’s use of feral cats to beat back our nationally recognized rat population. It’s old news. We’ve been relying on our feline friends since at least the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Not many people are aware that the World’s Fair has a cat,” wrote the Chicago Tribune in September 1893. “This ignorance on the part of visitors is largely due to the fact that the cat does not appear in the catalogues and sleeps during the day.” Cat-alogues, indeed! The Columbian cat really got around the grounds. The Trib [...]
118. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Great Steam Hammer
THE GREAT STEAM HAMMER.—One exhibit in the Transportation Building always attracted curious inspection. To many unfamiliar with the heavy machinery used in the vast manufactories of today, its use was not apparent, but to those informed in such fields it was an object of decided interest. This was the model of the monster steam hammer in use by the Bethlehem Iron Company, of Pennsylvania, the largest steam hammer in the world. Though painted to represent iron, the model was of wood, and so well executed as to convey an idea of every detail. Why a steam hammer should form [...]
“Chicago’s White City Devil” on Smithsonian’s MURDEROUS HISTORY
The latest documentary about the evil doings of H. H. Holmes joins a crowded collection of films and television shows about the “devil in the white city” who killed an unknown number of victims around the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition. It is among the best to date. “Chicago's White City Devil,” the second episode of the Smithsonian Channel’s new series Murderous History, features rather cheesy dramatic scenes along with informative commentary by a group of notable Chicago historians, authors, and journalists. The recreations utterly fail in their design to bring viewers into the historic setting of the [...]
Prominent Petunias
On April 29, 1893, gardeners at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition held a christening ceremony for a pair of plants. Inside the greenhouse behind the Horticultural Building, they sprinkled water from a can onto the opening blossoms of two petunias, baptizing the large white bloom as “Mrs. Potter Palmer” (named after the President of the Board of Lady Managers) and the black one having one tiny white fleck as “The Burnham” (named after the Director of Works for the Exposition). There is no report on how long theses two flowers lasted, but their namesakes are still well remembered in [...]
Progress of the Century: The Celebrated Agave Plant of the 1893 World’s Fair
Uncle John rose with the morning sun on April 23, 1893 and made a bee-line for the Horticultural Building on the fairgrounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, Chicago. The opening of the Fair—when President Cleveland would push the button to unfurl the flags along the White City rooftops and release the water to the glorious fountains—was still nine days away. Today, however, the Chief of the Horticultural Department was expecting a throng of visitors to his verdant exhibit hall, all anxious to see a different kind of unfurling. What had kept him awake with worry much [...]
May 20, 2021: “Film Firsts and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: Part II” (online)
Chicago Movie Tours will offer the second of two free "mini matinee" online lectures on Thursday, May 20 at 9:30 AM. "Film Firsts and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair: Part II" promises to celebrate the fathers of modern movies and that time they filmed Chicago's famous Ferris wheel. To attend the event, just view their Facebook page at the scheduled time and click on the live video.
May 13, 2021: “Film Firsts and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: Part I” (online)
Chicago Movie Tours will offer two free "mini matinee" online lectures on Facebook. The first, on Thursday, May 13 at 9:30 AM is "Film Firsts and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair: Part I." The presentation will uncover what human eyesight, galloping horses, and a missed Chicago deadline have in common. The second presentation, on Thursday, May 20 at 9:30 AM, is "Film Firsts and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair: Part II" which promises to celebrate the fathers of modern movies and that time they filmed Chicago's famous Ferris wheel. To attend these events, just view their Facebook page at [...]
“The Spatula and the White City” podcast
“One of my favorite things in the world is the spatula,” confesses Diane T. Sands, host of the podcast This Fact is Overdue. In the episode “The Spatula and the White City” (March 1, 2021), she shares interesting connections between this simple and useful kitchen utensil and the 1893 World’s Fair. Along the way, listeners will learn about Anna M. Mangin, a young Black woman who invented the pastry fork in 1891. Her invention was exhibited in the New York display in the Woman’s Building. The story also passes through Ida B. Wells’ protest publication The Reason Why the [...]