RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
The biggest building in the world was at the 1893 Columbian Exposition
How big was the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building at the 1893 World’s Fair? The MLAB was the largest building in the world and the largest roofed building that had ever erected at that time. The south front of the Manufactures Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. At 787 feet wide, this is the shorter end of the mammoth structure. [Image from Picturesque World’s Fair (W.B. Conkey, 1894); digitally edited and © worldsfairchicago1893.com.] At 1687 feet long by 787 feet wide and covering a total of 31 acres, the size of this architectural wonder was difficult for many [...]
Apr. 26, 2025: Help clean up Jackson Park (Chicago)
Jackson Park is hallowed ground for 1893 World’s Fair enthusiasts. To honor Earth Day, Friends of the Parks is sponsoring a clean-up day in Jackson Park and other Chicago parks on Saturday, April 26, 2025. This marks the 40th anniversary of Friends of the Parks’ citywide Earth Day cleanups. Whether you love spending time in Jackson Park or have never before visited, we invite you to join us on a team of volunteers to clean up Jackson Park East. Register for the Jackson Park East team here. Cleanups are scheduled for 9 AM to noon, though local site captains [...]
Apr. 8, 2025: “Perspective of Wonder: A Tour of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” (Hinsdale, IL)
Author Cindy Angell Keeling will offer a fascinating introduction to the spectacular Chicago World’s Fair in her presentation “Perspective of Wonder: A Tour of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Hinsdale, Illinois. In this entertaining presentation, Cindy will take you on a tour of the fairgrounds using vintage photographs, maps, and artwork. Which building had the most ostentatious dome? What in the world is “staff,” and why was it important to the Fair? Which concession featured a donkey ride up a mountain? Travel back in time with Cindy to find out. Bring your enthusiasm [...]
Mar. 27–29, 2025: World’s Fair Women in “The Mammy Project” (Blue Lake, CA)
Nancy Green and Ida B. Wells, two women who played important and diverse roles in the 1893 World’s Fair, are the subject of a performance by Michelle Matlock playing in Blue Lake, CA, on Mar. 27–29, 2025. The Mammy Project, written and performed by Michelle Matlock, unearths the gritty truth behind the century-old icon of Aunt Jemima. This bandanna-wearing superstar of minstrel shows, Hollywood epics, and the breakfast nook is reimagined from her dark roots in the antebellum South, liberated from her demeaning roles, and unleashed from her pancake box prison onto an unsuspecting audience. Michelle Matlock, a phenomenal [...]
The Myth of Marble: A Roman Statue of “Minerva” at the 1893 World’s Fair
Chicago is abuzz about “Myth and Marble,” a fabulous new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago running from March 15 to June 29, 2025. On display are fifty-eight magnificent sculptures of gods and goddesses, emperors and funerary monuments. All come from the Torlonia Collection of Rome, one of the world’s finest private collections of Greco-Roman antiquities. The artwork has been out of the public view for most of the past century. Statue of Athena from the Torlonia Collection of Rome, on display in “Myth and Marble.” [Photo from worldsfairchicago1893.com.] Among the fascinating works on display is Statue [...]
Apr. 12, 2025: “Daniel Burnham’s Chicago” (Glen Ellyn, IL)
He was one of Chicago’s greatest architects and served as Director of Works for the 1893 World’s Fair. Daniel Burnham will be portrayed by Terry Lynch in a presentation on April 12, 2025, sponsored by the Glen Ellyn Historical Society. Guests of “Daniel Burnham’s Chicago – A Dramatic Portrayal by Terry Lynch” will experience the grandeur of the Columbian Exposition and learn about its origins, exhibits, and the people and politics involved in creating the White City. As Burnham, Lynch will lead us through the history of the “Windy City” and its transformation from the “Wild Onion” to the [...]
Mar. 22, 2025: “Bertha Honoré Palmer – A Life in Three Acts” (Glen Ellyn, IL)
She was “The Queen of Chicago” and “The Queen of the Fair” in 1893. Bertha Honoré Palmer is the subject of a presentation by historian Laurie Russell on March 22, 2025, sponsored by the Glen Ellyn Historical Society. “Bertha Honore’ Palmer – A Life in Three Acts” will examine her legacy and impact on Chicago and around the world. Vintage photographs will illustrate Bertha Palmer’s life from early childhood, her marriage to hotel magnate Potter Palmer, the Great Chicago Fire, and the World’s Columbian Exposition. Not to be left out are her exquisite jewels and gowns, bringing Impressionism to [...]
“Isn’t it hideous?” Cleveland Caricature is a Columbian Claptrap
A flower arrangement made of immortelles (everlastings) at the 1893 World’s Fair intended to depict President Grover Cleveland. The floral display in the Horticultural Building turned heads and turned stomachs. This article in the Chicago Tribune about the “Caricature in Immortelles” included a headline declaring “The Alleged Cleveland Picture in the Horticultural Building an Atrocity.” Under the great dome of the horticultural building, just opposite the main entrance, through which most strangers approached the beautiful display of plants and flowers, is a site to make those who have learned to admire the dignity of the building and its exhibit [...]
Dyche’s Panorama of North American Mammals at the 1893 World’s Fair
While countless attractions at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition could make a reasonable claim to be the “most interesting” exhibit on the fairgrounds, the article reprinted below awards that honor to the “Exhibit of Large North American Mammals” in the Kansas State Building. Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche’s unique panorama is one of the few large displays from the 1893 Exposition that remained intact after the close of the Fair. The University of Kansas Natural History Museum houses the display, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2018. In 2025, the Museum announced the receipt of a gift to support a [...]
1893 World’s Fair natural history artifact to be restored
A treasured educational display from the 1893 World’s Fair will be restored, thanks to a $2 million gift. Dyche’s Panorama, formally called the “Exhibit of Large North American Mammals,” was originally displayed inside the Kansas State Building at the Columbian Exposition before finding a permanent home at the University of Kansas. Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche created the panorama to showcase University’s natural history and taxidermy collection and to “awaken a more general interest and teach valuable lessons on the natural history of North American mammals.” The exhibit of 121 specimens of large North American mammals displayed in the north [...]