Reprinters Row
A collection of reprinted texts and images
from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition
152. Picturesque World’s Fair – California Sea Lions in the Government Building
CALIFORNIA SEA LIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING. —The California Sea Lions, which afforded such a fine illustration of the taxidermist's skill and attracted so much comment in the Government Building, were like old friends, not merely to Californians who had seen them or their relations, enjoying themselves in the waters of the coast, but to thousands of people familiar with scenes in the parks of the great cities. The [...]
151. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Colorado Building
THE COLORADO BUILDING.—Occupying a prominent site near the popular northwestern entrance to the Exposition Grounds, and presenting a fine frontage, the Colorado Building was one of the most noticeable of State structures, and in detail fully deserved the attention it attracted. It was built in the Spanish Renaissance style, at a cost of $35,000, and was finished exteriorly in staff of an ivory color. Two slender Spanish towers, rising [...]
150. Picturesque World’s Fair – Interior of the Mining Building
INTERIOR OF THE MINING BUILDING.—There was much in the Mines and Mining Building the value of which was not apparent save to the expert, bit there was a great deal there also which was glitteringly attractive, and a great deal that was curious even to the casual visitor. The display of gold and silver made from some of the states was striking, as were the exhibits of precious stones [...]
149. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Statue of Plenty
THE STATUE OF " PLENTY."—The pieces of statuary which stood beside the portals of the great buildings or bridge approaches, or on pedestals overlooking the Grand Basin and canals and lagoons, had all definite names fitted to the idea of their conception. What Kemeys and Proctor did with wild animals Potter and French did with domestic ones, introducing them in statuary with fine effect. The Statue of " Plenty [...]
The Making of the White City (Part 2)
[Continued from Part 1] A great stage decked with ambitious scenery Perhaps the first thing that would strike a stranger entering the World’s Fair grounds in the summer of 1892 would be the silence of the place, the next the almost theatrical unreality of the impression by the sight of an assemblage of buildings so startlingly out of the common in size and form. When I speak of the [...]
The Making of the White City (Part 1)
Few essays about the fairgrounds for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition better capture the creative energy of its construction than H. C. Bunner’s “The Making of the White City.” The American novelist, journalist, and poet Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855–1896) visited Jackson Park in Chicago during the summer of 1892. There he witnessed laborers assembling the great exhibit halls, hundreds of smaller structures, and magnificent landscaping in advance of the [...]
148. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Spanish Government Building
THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT BUILDING.—It was to be expected that Spain, the country in one respect most honored by the World's Columbian Exposition, should be well represented in the displays, and that its government should enter into the broad spirit of the occasion. The Spanish government showed earnestness in its course from the beginning, not merely in assisting Spanish exhibitors but in such special direction as the building of the [...]
147. Picturesque World’s Fair – The French Colonies Building
THE FRENCH COLONIES BUILDING.—Situated well over toward the southeast corner of the grounds and out of the great tide of movement, the French Colonies Building at the Exposition did not attract the attention it merited, though it attained a degree of popularity toward the close, as the interesting nature of its contents became known. Its locality was sometimes referred to as "the back yard of the Fair," though it [...]
“Very sterling qualities about the Hoosiers”: Lunch in the Indiana State Building
Hoosiers visiting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago were mighty proud of the Indiana State Building. Designed by one of distinguished Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb, the French Gothic structure stood in the southwest section of the state buildings on a lovely spot along the North Pond and nestled between the state buildings of Illinois, California, and Wisconsin. One of the twelve state buildings to receive an award [...]
146. Picturesque World’s Fair – Birds-Eye View of State Buildings – Looking Northeast
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF STATE BUILDINGS—LOOKING NORTHEAST.—Very popular was the Fifty-seventh street entrance, at the northwest corner of the Exposition Grounds, situated as it was close to a railroad station and at the end of a street car cable system, and hundreds of thousands of people became, in consequence, familiar with the view given in the illustration. The scene is that presented looking to the northeast from a point near [...]
REPRINT SERIES
Picturesque World’s Fair: An Elaborate Collection of Colored Views (W. B. Conkey Company. 1894)