RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
World’s Columbian Exposition Rat Traps
Although little has been written about them, rats must have been present on the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Rats also contributed to a unique Columbian Exposition product. The excerpt below, from “Traps Suited to the Rat’s Taste” published in the November 4, 1894, issue of the Philadelphia Times, describes commercial rat traps having themes related to the Midway Plaisance: It seems like rats are like persons. Some like one kind of trap and some another; just as different people like different houses … The [rat trap] dealer called my attention to the very striking influence the [...]
“Chicago’s Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934” Explores the Windy City’s Raucous Roots
Chicago's Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934 by Jim Edwards. Arcadia Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 9781467103701. Softcover, 128 pages. $21.99. Partying ruled in the years between Chicago’s two World's Fairs, writes historian Jim Edwards in his introduction to Chicago's Lollapalooza Days: 1893-1934. The collection of 169 annotated images form a loose theme around the titular “lollapalooza” (a ball in the notorious First Ward, not a modern music festival). Edwards curates a visual review of many of the characters, fetes, and vice that enlivened Chicago for the forty years between the Columbian Exposition and the Century of Progress. Along the way can be found [...]
1893 World’s Fair Safe Bank Featured on “Antiques Roadshow”
Antiques Roadshow on PBS featured a rare 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition safe bank on their show “Meadow Brook Hall, Hour 2” (Season 23 Episode 2; aired January 14, 2019) shot in Rochester, Michigan. The nickel-plated cast iron “still bank” (not a mechanical bank) with combination lock features the northern hemisphere on top with copper inlays portraits depicting Christopher Columbus, U.S. President Grover Cleveland, and World’s Columbian Exposition President Thomas W. Palmer of Michigan on the sides. A video clip can be viewed at PBS. Noel Barrett, of Pook & Pook Auctions, described the World’s Fair collectible as “the Holy Grail [...]
92. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Javanese at Home
THE JAVANESE AT HOME.— In their home life the Javanese are said to be a simple and happy people, and this will be readily believed of them by those who were in the Javanese Village at the Fair frequently enough to note the home demeanor of its occupants. They were most interesting, these gentle Javanese, and, in certain ways and habits and views of life, quite unlike any other people in the world, so fax as the Fair afforded an illustration. There was an apparent sadness, which was not so much a sadness as a speculative dreaminess, in their [...]
Jan. 28, 2020: World’s Fair History Happy Hour at the Chicago History Museum
The Chicago History Museum will host History Happy Hour with an 1893 World’s Fair theme on Tuesday, January 28, from 6-9 pm. The Chicago 00 Project will offer a preview of their 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition virtual reality experience. Guests will be taken on an immersive tour of the world’s fair, known for its dazzling White City and eclectic Midway Plaisance, experiencing Chicago’s past and present in 360 degrees and flying 264 feet in the air on a virtual ride of the world’s first Ferris Wheel. Museum staff will share information about some of the unique World’s Fair items in [...]
Jan. 11-12, 2020: “Sangamon Songs” Musical Play Tells of Illinois Boy Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair (Skokie, IL)
A diary written by a 16-year-old Illinois boy who visited the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago is the source material for a new musical. Sangamon Songs: A Musical Play by Tom Irwin and John W. Arden will be performed at Skokie Theatre for Performing Arts on Jan. 11 and 12, 2010. After discovering Harry Glen Ludlam’s journal in his family farmhouse, Tom Irwin began composing an acoustic song cycle about late-nineteenth-century life of a teenager in a small town in Central Illinois. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign, his 2012 album Sangamon Songs collected twelve of the pieces, including one [...]
THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 13)
THE CITY OF WONDERS A SOUVENIR OF THE WORLD'S FAIR by Mary Catherine Crowley (1894)
THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 12)
THE CITY OF WONDERS A SOUVENIR OF THE WORLD'S FAIR by Mary Catherine Crowley (1894)
Jan. 20, 2020: John Mark Hansen Discusses “The City in a Garden” (Chicago)
For a short time in 1893, the Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods of Chicago bordered the capital of the world, as millions visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance. The City in a Garden, a new book by John Mark Hansen explores the history of these neighborhoods: Chicago suburb, world’s fair grounds, college town, the city’s first stably integrated community, Hyde Park and Kenwood have many distinctions. The City in a Garden tells the neighborhood’s story through the experiences and lives of its residents. Paul Cornell, the Illinois Central Railroad, the South Park system, [...]
THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 11)
THE CITY OF WONDERS A SOUVENIR OF THE WORLD'S FAIR by Mary Catherine Crowley (1894)