RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 14: A Dream
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 13 We dreamed that we sat upon the sands of the lake shore, and that all about us, unnumbered as these sands, sat and stood a great multitude; thousands upon thousands of people, men, women, and children, from the babe in arms to the maiden and stripling, high and low, rich and poor, all crowding together, all were equal, and over all a great hush and calm. The sun was setting. Our faces were turned to the east and we saw only the reflection of [...]
The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Library of Congress (video)
C-SPAN is streaming a recorded lecture on “The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Library of Congress.” In this talk, originally presented for the United States Capitol Historical Society (USCHS) on October 13, 2020, art historian Lynda Cooper reconstructs the relationship between the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago and the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson Building (1889–1897) in Washington, D.C. Working from an art history perspective, Cooper describes the influence the exposition had on the artists and architects who designed and decorated the ornate Jefferson building. She offers an in-depth look at similarities among select mural [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 13: The Illumination
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 12 To-day we went to the "Dream City," as Mrs. Candace Wheeler so prettily named the Chicago Exposition,[1] and saw the grand weekly illumination in the evening. At about five o'clock in the afternoon we pressed on with the crowd toward the grand basin. It seemed to be the objective point with all and we were so fortunate as to secure a seat on one of the benches facing the basin. It was an ideal evening, an ideal scene, a scene such as no man [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 12: The Infanta
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 11 The Infanta of Spain was entertained by the World's Fair officials to-day, June 8, 1893, and we were fortunate in viewing the pageant from a good stand point.[1] It was a perfect day, cool and bright, and smiled on unclouded to its close. We secured some of the handy little camp chairs that are rented on the ground, and entering the south door of the Mining building wound our way up the long stairway to the balcony, overlooking the doorway of the Administration building, [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 11: The Land of Boodah
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 10 A low curved roofed, wide eaved temple, built of foreign woods covered with intricate carving, with deep lace-arched balconies, and blind walls, windowless and dark.[1] The East India Government Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. Graphic Co., 1894.] As we enter the door a strange odor of mingled incense and sandal wood greets us. We find ourselves in a medium sized room lighted from the roof, and surrounded by a gallery supported on slender pillars. [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 10: A Cave of the Sea
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 9 We roamed through a cave of the sea;[1] on either side rose lofty pillared arches, thickly broidered and crusted with myriad growths of ocean's mysterious depths and of its various tributaries. Shells in all their whorls and spirals and intricate convolutions; half sentient sea anemones, sea ferns and broad leaved kelps, branching lace like and weeping willowy corals, arrowy reeds and floating lily pads, wreathed and twined around the columns and arches. Amid these growths sprawled frogs and star fishes, and water snakes drew [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 9: Manufactures Building
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 8 Pause, before you enter, and gaze upon this mighty mass of crystal and iron;[1] union of purity and strength, seemingly so frail and airy, and yet in reality so firm and stable. Look at the roof, like a huge translucent wave, at the grand majestic archways towering high above you, with their pictured allegorys [sic] smiling down upon you from their airy heights.[2] Step within this arch and look through the doorway down the long, long perspective, where human beings dwindle away to moving [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 8: Sights and Sounds of the Midway
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 7 Will ever human foot tread such a "way" again? 'Twas as if one had "Aladdin's Lamp" or the wonderful carpet that transported one to any clime with the celerity of thought. One bears the booming of the Dahomian skin drums, and sees the terrible naked Amazons in their hideous dance; sees the Laplander wrapped in his furs and leading his reindeers; sees the Esquimeaux, still more furry, and , if possible, more ugly and dirty; sees Turkish houris whirling in their glittering dance; sees [...]
Dec. 2 2020: “Building Chicago’s Public Spaces with Julia Bachrach” (online)
The Chicago Public Library, in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center, will host an online presentation on "Building Chicago’s Public Spaces" by Chicago parks historian Julia Bachrach. The talk on Wednesday, December 2, from 6-7 pm, is free but registration is required: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/5f9c4a02e085ab5c2caf057d Bachrach will highlight two major architectural themes in park history: the Museum of Science and Industry—built as the Palace of Fine Arts for the World’s Columbian Exposition—and the fieldhouse, an influential building type invented in Chicago. She will discuss the original drawings by architects Daniel H. Burnham and Charles B. Atwood, which have rarely been seen by the [...]
“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 7: The Ferris Wheel
Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 6 In the very centre, midway of “The Midway” stands a high wooden enclosure, and rising above it like a gigantic spider’s-web, the "Ferris Wheel." After the usual “open sesame" we enter the enclosure, and mounting a flight of steps find ourselves upon a high platform with the revolving monster only a few feet distant, but protected by a stout wooden paling. We, with some hundred other sight-seers, wait patiently for some moments when the wheel becomes stationary, and a blue-coated, much bebuttoned official slides [...]