Reprinters Row
A collection of reprinted texts and images
from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition
“Ring the Bells!” by Richard Lew Dawson
Essayist, story writer, song writer, critic and poet, Richard Lew Dawson (1852–1921) wrote for many popular newspapers and magazines, including the Indianapolis Sentinel, Indianapolis Journal, Chicago Current, Saturday Herald, and Century Magazine. He was a founding member of the Western Association of Writers in 1886. A few years before his death on April 23, 1921, the Hoosier writer moved to San Francisco, where he departed this world on the [...]
165. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Texas Building
THE TEXAS BUILDING.—The Texas Building, a fine structure, was a credit to the patriotism and energy of the ladies of that state and equally a rebuke to the legislature of the great commonwealth which failed to make the needed appropriation in time. It was to the women alone that praise for Texas' representation at the Fair was due. The building occupied a fine site near the northern extremity of [...]
164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South
THE NORTH CANAL—LOOKING SOUTH —From a point near the west approach to the bridge connecting the Electricity and Manufactures Buildings a view was afforded southward down the South Canal, which had many interesting features. The always thronged bridge between the plaza in front of the Administration Building and the south front of the Manufactures cuts off, it is true, a portion of the view but adds in itself an [...]
Reaching the fairgrounds by cable car, cattle car, steamboat, or L?
Visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition had many options for transportation to (and within), the fairgrounds. The poem below, about various transportation modes, may have been a sly advertisement for the company mentioned in the final line. “The Crowd Entering the Grounds from the Elevated Railway,” drawn by T. de Thulstrup after a sketch by T. Dart Walker. [Image from Harper’s Weekly June 10, 1893.] Some reached The [...]
“The crush was terrible”: A firsthand account of Opening Day at the 1893 World’s Fair
A correspondent to the Russell Record in Russell County, Kansas, offered this account of Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Despite having a rather unpleasant time adrift in the “Surging Sea of Humanity” assembled in Jackson Park for the ceremony, and despite the World’s Fair being far from complete in early May, this Kansan advised that “No one, who can conveniently see it, should fail to do [...]
“Sick of the picturesque”: Hamlin Garland oversells the 1893 World’s Fair
Note: Hamlin Garland will be inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, from 5:30—8 pm at the Chicago History Museum. Further information about Hamlin Garland can be found at the Hamlin Garland Society website https://www.garlandsociety.org/ “Sell the cook stove if necessary and come. You must see this fair.” This oft-repeated quote, brimming with enthusiasm and promise for the 1893 World’s [...]
25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair
Toward the close of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Critic invited twenty-five notable scholars, writers, and leaders of the day to offer their brief impressions of the World’s Fair. At such a monumental event with so many novelties … what impressed them the most? It is interesting how frequently these contributors sing the same notes as they rhapsodize about the fairgrounds at night and the illumination [...]
163. Picturesque World’s Fair – The German Porcelain Display
THE GERMAN PORCELAIN DISPLAY.—What proved one of the greatest attractions to art lovers who visited the German section in the Manufactures Building was the wonder-ful porcelain display. No collection of just the same character and quality had ever before been seen in the United States, nor, indeed, elsewhere, and a delighted throng was con-stantly examining this portion of Germany's fine exhibit. The illustration affords a good idea of the [...]
The Ninth Wonder of the World: Turning Day into Night at the 1893 Columbian Exposition
“However grand, complete and astonishing the World's Fair may appear to the public by daylight, it is at night that it can be seen in all its splendor and magnificence,” wrote the World’s Columbian Exposition Illustrated [read the article here]. Another description of the nightly illumination of the Court of Honor comes from the newspaper story reprinted below, originally from an (unknown) Chicago newspaper. Turning Day into Night “After [...]
In All Its Splendor and Magnificence: The World’s Fair at Night
The illumination of the White City evoked awe and wonder among visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Nothing earthly can ever exceed this; man has reached high, higher, his fingers have almost touched the bars of heaven,” wrote Mrs. D. C. Taylor in her memoir Halcyon Days in the Dream City. [Read the full work here.] Reprinted below is a description of the fairgrounds at night published in [...]
REPRINT SERIES
Picturesque World’s Fair: An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views (W. B. Conkey Company. 1894)