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An original painting of the 1893 California State Building sells at auction
An original painting of the California State Building from the 1893 World’s Fair sold at auction for $2,800 on June 25, 2021. The 9.75-by-13.5-inch, unframed oil on canvas features the second largest state building (after that of Illinois) on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Artist William Woodward (1859–1939), who served on the planning commission for his home state of Louisiana, depicted with impressionist flair a crowd passing in front the [...]
Sept. 12, 2021: “Walking the White City” tour (Chicago)
The Glessner House is offering a "Walking the White City" tour of the former fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition on Sunday, September 12, 2021, from 10 AM to noon. Architect and historian John Waters will guide participants on a walking tour of Jackson Park to see the sites of landmarks of the 1893 World's Fair, explore the fascinating vestiges, and learn how the Fair influenced the design [...]
An Endless Ride on the Intramural Railway at the 1893 World’s Fair
One challenge for the designers of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was finding ways to transport visitors around the enormous fairgrounds. Walking the main grounds—almost a mile and a half from north to south and three-quarters of a mile wide across the south end, and a mile-long Midway Plaisance—exhausted many fairgoers. Rolling chairs offered a personal mode of transportation around the grounds, while watercraft such as electric launches and [...]
123. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Boiler-Room of Machinery Hall
THE BOILER-ROOM OF MACHINERY HALL.—Never before was such a boiler-room as that which delighted engineers in Machinery Hall. It must needs be enormous, for it supplied the force for all the lights and machinery of the great buildings, but those who had never seen it were none the less astonished when they entered the great room. It extended north and south in the annex, and to look down it [...]
The Garden of the Phoenix — Japan’s lasting gift in Jackson Park
One of the most important sites in the U.S. reflecting American-Japanese relations has its roots in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The Garden of the Phoenix on the Wooded Island in the heart of Jackson Park, is located at the site of the original Ho-o-den pavilion (Phoenix Hall). After this gift to the city of Chicago was destroyed by fire, a Japanese garden rose from the ashes. As the [...]
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 3
Continued from Part 2 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. Charmed with the wonders of the White City As Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi prepared to depart Chicago, he was leaving behind his name with the son of a new friend, and he was leaving behind his statue of Washington and Lafayette with an uncertain future. Although Bartholdi reportedly had planned for only a two-week sojourn in Chicago, he had [...]
122. Picturesque World’s Fair – South Front of the Manufactures Building
SOUTH FRONT OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—While not its greatest frontage, the south end of the Manufactures Building was most familiar to Exposition visitors, facing as it did to the Court of Honor and affording between it and the Grand Basin a vantage point for seeing the fountains at play and the illumination of the buildings at night. The illustration above shows this frontage as well as that on the [...]
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 2
Continued from Part 1 Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. “I come to see the American side of the Fair” On September 10, 1893, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and his wife Jeanne-Émilie arrived in Chicago and settled into the Hotel Metropole. This hotel stood on Michigan Avenue at 23rd Street, just south of the tony Prairie Avenue District called home by many of Chicago’s elite citizens, including Marshall Field, [...]
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s Visit to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Part 1
“My only ambition has been to engrave my name at the feet of great men and in the service of grand ideas.” —Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1880. Most monographs about Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi conclude his story with the 1886 unveiling ceremony for his Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. A lesser-known chapter in the French sculptor’s life involves his next and final trip [...]
Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue!
"Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue!" [Image from World's Fair Puck, July 3, 1893.] At 11 o'clock on July 4, 1893, crowds filled around a grandstand east of Terminal Station on the fairgrounds of the World's Fair in Chicago. A band opened the ceremonies with a medley of American airs, beginning with "Hail Columbia" and ending with "Yankee Doodle."
121. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Grand Basin at Night – Showing Search-Lights
THE GRAND BASIN AT NIGHT—SHOWING SEARCH-LIGHTS.—One of the charms of the night view over the Grand Basin was that it was always new, atmospheric or other causes producing varied effects, and the scene on one occasion being entirely different from that presented on another. And not only were atmospheric conditions fluctuating, but the artificial ones produced were made still more so, a new experience to the sight-seer after dark [...]
“One feels inclined to make his peace with God and man”: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel
The great Ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance of the World’s Columbian Exposition opened to the public on June 21, 1893. A North Carolina visitor to the 1893 World’s Fair sent this correspondence to the Charlotte Observer about his experience riding the famous Ferris Wheel: Yesterday we spent the day in the Midway Plaisance. Among the first of our experiences was a ride on the great Ferris Wheel. This [...]
120. Picturesque World’s Fair – A Load of Michigan Pine Logs
A LOAD OF MICHIGAN PINE LOGS.—The lumber industry in Michigan is conducted on a grand scale, and something of the methods pursued was illustrated by a firm which contributed a single load of logs to the Exposition. Twenty-five saw logs were shown in a single load at the Centennial Exposition. Michigan simply doubled this. Never before was seen such a load of logs. It consisted of fifty magnificent lengths [...]
June 24, 2021: 1893 Chicago World’s Fair Celebration (online)
GreenFields Geneva, a senior living center in Geneva, Illinois, will host an “1893 Chicago World’s Fair Celebration” online lecture on Thursday, June 24 at 11 AM. Local historian Bob Dion will provide a tour of this triumph of American spirit and ingenuity. Viewers will experience the thrill of the fairgrounds and discover how the fair changed everything from packaged food to city planning. The event is free and open [...]
Dec. 16, 2020-July 11, 2021: “Fantastic Fairs: The Fields at the World’s Fairs” (St. Louis)
The Field House Museum in St. Louis is dedicated to preserving the legacy and birthplace of author Eugene Field. A temporary exhibit in the museum’s main entryway showcases objects relating to Eugene Field’s involvement at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and his wife Julia Field’s position as juror at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Columbian Exposition books, stereoview cards, tickets, souvenir spoons, and a holograph letter [...]
National Park Service Highlights “Women’s History at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition”
The National Park Service explores “Women’s History at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” with a survey of some related NPS sites, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Palmer House Hotel, Lorado Taft Midway Studios, a home belonging to Lois Lilley Howe (who submitted a design for the Woman’s Building at the 1893 World’s Fair), and—of course—Jackson Park Historic Landscape District and Midway Plaisance. The dining room of [...]
“1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: Crossroads of America” podcast
The podcast Tour Guide Tell All brings listeners on a visit to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago with their episode “1893 World’s Columbian Exposition: Crossroads of America” (published on April 9, 2021). In just under an hour, Rebecca Fachner and Becca Grawl cover a wide range of subjects, including “famous firsts of the fair,” Lyman J. Gage, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Gen. George R. Davis, George Westinghouse, [...]
119. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Transportation Building
THE TRANSPORTATION BUILDING.—The Transportation Building was unique among the great structures of the Columbian Exposition in that it was the single departure from a general rule, the contrast and the foil to all the others. It was distinct in its style of architecture, and alone was decorated exteriorly in colors. It was not of those buildings which won for the Exposition the title of "The White City." The main [...]
The Idaho State Building at the 1893 World’s Fair
The Idaho Building in downtown Boise is a “descendant” of several other Idaho buildings stretching back to the 1893 World’s Fair. Idaho Press history columnist Rick Just tells this story in “A little slice of history: The downtown Boise buildings story”, published on May 22, 2021. The Idaho State Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. [Image from Johnson, Rossiter A History of the World's Columbian Exposition Volume [...]
July 8, 2021: Designed the Dazzle and Delight: Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago)
The Newberry Library in Chicago will offer a one-day seminar on the 1893 World’s Fair on Thursday, July 8, 2021. Parks historian and preservationist Julia Bachrach will lead the Newberry Adult Education Seminar “Designed the Dazzle and Delight: Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition” from 6–8 pm online using Zoom. In 1890, when Congress awarded Chicago the honor of hosting the next World's Fair, civic leaders and exposition designers had [...]