RECENT POSTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION’S BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, EXHIBITS, EVENTS, AND PEOPLE.
Dec. 8, 2018: The White City and the Building of the Fair at Bezazian Library (Chicago)
Chicago historian and tour guide Al Walavich will present a talk on “The World's Columbian Exposition: The White City and the Building of the Fair” at the Bezazian Library (1226 W Ainslie St. in Chicago) at 10 AM on December 8, 2018. Walavich will explore how the White City came to be during this social and political history talk in recognition of the 125th anniversary of the World's Columbian exposition.
Happy Turkey Day to our readers!
We wish you and yours a joyous Thanksgiving! We give thanks for the wonderful friends and Columbian Exposition enthusiasts whom we have met through worldsfairchicago1893.com this past year and look forward to continued exploration of the fairgrounds with you in the coming months. Speaking of turkey ... our monthly newsletter puzzle for November asked readers: Which of the Great Buildings in the White City featured a ring of ornamental turkey sculptures on its roof? The answer can be found here. Where could you find this turkey (and friends) at the 1893 World's Fair?
November 2018 Trivia Question
Our monthly newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. (You can sign up here.) The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The November 2018 Trivia Question Which of the Great Buildings in the White City featured a ring of ornamental turkey sculptures on its roof? A. the Transportation Building B. the Agricultural Building C. the U.S. Government Building D. the Palace of Poultry The answer is B. A ring of turkeys decorated the dome of the Agricultural Building, designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. Many Americans thought that [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The New York Building (p. 69)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 69 – THE NEW YORK BUILDING THE NEW YORK BUILDING.—Ranking nearly with that of Illinois, the New York Building was probably first in point of originality of light design and unique attractiveness of interior. It occupied a space two hundred and fourteen feet in length by one hundred and forty-two in depth, and was not quite one hundred feet in height to the apex of its towers. Its cost was $77,000. It was designed simply as an elaborately decorated and richly finished summer palace. A flight of fourteen steps, [...]
Dec. 8, 2018: “Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” Symposium at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Saturday, December 8, 2018, the Newberry will host a symposium titled “Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” featuring a morning program on the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and afternoon speakers discussing the Century of Progress International Exposition of 1933-34. Columbian Exposition presentations run from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm and features these speakers and topics: Sarah Burns, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Thomas Hovenden, Breaking Home Ties, and Culture Wars in the White City of 1893” about that artist's sensational [...]
Veteran’s Days at the 1893 World’s Fair
Today marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the end of the Great War, when hostilities ceased on the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. This anniversary is now commemorated in the United States as Veteran’s Day, a time to honor American veterans, both living and dead. The day was originally known--and still is to many--as Armistice Day, for reflecting on how we can achieve peace. Among the scores of “special days” at the World’s Columbian Exposition during the summer of 1893 was a series of days intended to honor veterans. These “Veterans Days” were [...]
Chicago Mayor DeWitt Cregier Agitates for a World’s Fair
DeWitt Clinton Cregier (June 1, 1829 - November 9, 1898) was Chicago’s 31st mayor--serving from 1889 to 1891--and the first of several “World’s Fair” mayors. “The New York Orphan Who Built Chicago,” Cregier got the ball rolling only a few months into his term by organizing the civic meeting to build the proposal for Chicago to host the Columbian Exposition. The article reprinted below, from The Illustrated World’s Fair, December 1891, p. 15, describes Mayor Cregier’s role in the local agitation for a World’s Fair in Chicago. Dewitt Clinton Cregier in 1896. INCEPTION OF THE EXPOSITION. As [...]
Dec. 8, 2018: “Behind the Model: Reconstructing the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Saturday, December 8, 2018, the Newberry will host “Behind the Model: Reconstructing the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition”. Dr. Lisa Snyder, of UCLA’s Office of Information Technology, will discuss the technology and research behind her rich computer reconstruction of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition’s White City. The lecture runs from 10-11:30 am in Ruggles Hall at the Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is [...]
Tchaikovsky’s Tribute to Children for the 1893 World’s Fair
“Earth hold no music half so sweet as the laughter of a happy child.” -- Bertha Palmer in Fame's Tribute to Children (1893) On this day the world remembers the great Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840 -- November 6, 1893), who died 125 years ago. Although he did not attend the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he did provide a small musical gift to help build it. The Children's Building. [Image from Bancroft, Hubert Howe The Book of the Fair. Bancroft Company, 1893.] When Bertha Palmer and her Board of Lady Managers decided to [...]
Remembering William Eleroy Curtis, chairman of the Latin American Department
Today marks the anniversary of the birth of William Eleroy Curtis, born on November 5, 1850, in Akron, Ohio. Curtis served the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition as the chairman of the Latin American Department and representative of the State Department for the U.S. Government Exhibit. Curtis was a journalist and traveling correspondent for the Chicago Inter-Ocean and the Record-Herald newspapers and authored more than thirty books, many about his travels and research in South America. For the Exposition, Curtis was charged with integrating “Pan-Americanism” into the Fair. He headed a mission to Latin America in 1891 to encourage participation [...]