RECENT POSTS
from
World’sFairChicago1893.com
Opening Day at the 1893 World’s Fair
“The Electric Button” [Image (colorized) from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, May 18, 1893.] Opening Day at the World's Columbian Exposition, May 1, 1893, brought “the greatest crowd Chicago has ever seen or probably ever will witness” into Jackson Park. The tally of total visitors inside the fairground, was close to 400,000, with 242,000 people buying tickets at the gate and another 150,000 arriving with pre-purchased souvenir tickets. The event [...]
CANCELLED May 30, 2020: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)
This event has been cancelled. The Chicago History Museum is offering a “Ride Like the Devil: a Devil in the White City Bike Tour” on Saturday, May 30, 2019, from 9:45 am to 12:45 pm. Cycle back to 1893, pedal past sites related to the World’s Fair, and discover its lasting influence on Chicago. Along the way, tour guide Greg Borzo, author of Where to Bike Chicago, will uncover [...]
99. Picturesque World’s Fair – Paseleo, A Samoan Chief
PASELEO, A SAMOAN CHIEF.—Splendid specimens of manhood and womanhood physically were the Samoans at the Exposition, and comment was as general upon their fine proportions as upon their intelligence and courtesy of demeanor. It may be that a remembrance of this time when Samoans imperiled their lives so recklessly in aid of the crews of American warships wrecked in the great hurricane at Apia had something to do with [...]
Olmsted 200: The Frederick Law Olmsted Bicentennial Celebration
April 26, 2022, marks the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A celebration is being planned in honor of the author, journalist, city planner, landscape architect, public official, and creative genius who transformed the modern American landscape. Olmsted 200 will be a coordinated national and local celebration, engaging wide and inclusive audiences in examining the foundational principles of Olmsted’s [...]
Frederick Law Olmsted’s 1893 Report to the American Institute of Architects
Equaling or surpassing the grandeur of the White City palaces were the awesome scenic grounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The eminent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who had laid out New York's Central Park and the Chicago suburb of Riverside, transformed Jackson Park (“the least park-like ground within miles of the city”) into a garden of stunning beauty enjoyed by tens of millions of visitors. In this [...]
Apr. 29, 2020: A Tale of Two Fairs (Chicago Architecture Center)
Forty years after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago again hosted the world for the Century of Progress. Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) docent Ellen Shubart will compare the two—and explain why one is talked about so much more often than the other today—in a video lecture "A Tale of Two Fairs" at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 29, 2020. The program will be hosted on Zoom; registered guests will [...]
May 6, 2020: Women of the 1893 World’s Fair (Chicago Architecture Center)
Several women played significant roles in making the 1893 World’s Fair a spectacularly grand affair. Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) docent Kathleen Carpenter will introduce you to these remarkable women artists, activists, and achievers in a video lecture "Women of the 1893 World's Fair" at 7 pm on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. The program will be hosted on Zoom; registered guests will receive an email directly from Zoom on the [...]
Ferris Wheel History from “Popular Science” Magazine
Popular Science magazine offers a "shockingly sad (and short) origin story" of the Ferris Wheel in their article "There was only ever one true Ferris Wheel, and we blew it up"
A Tribute to Harlow N. Higinbotham, President of the World’s Columbian Exposition
On April 18, 1919, the former president of the World’s Columbian Exposition met a tragic death. Harlow N. Higinbotham was visiting New York to “meet the boys” of Illinois who had recently returned from serving in the U.S. military during the Great War. The eighty-year-old Chicagoan set out from his residence at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Central Park to the New York headquarters of the Illinois Soldiers' Welcome Committee [...]
Video of “Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum
“Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum features items exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Apr. 18, 2020: Women of the 1893 World’s Fair (Chicago Architecture Center)
Several women played significant roles in making the 1893 World’s Fair a spectacularly grand affair. Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) docent Kathleen Carpenter will introduce you to these remarkable women artists, activists, and achievers in a video lecture "Women of the 1893 World's Fair" at 1 pm on Saturday, April 18, 2020. The program will be hosted on Zoom; registered guests will receive an email directly from Zoom on the [...]
Stay Home. Stay Safe.
Stay Home. Stay Safe.
CANCELLED May 9, 2020: Devil in the White City Bus Tour
Experience the murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America on a 4-hour bus tour offered by the Chicago History Museum on Saturday, May 9, 2020, starting at 1 pm. Inspired by Erik Larson’s best-selling book (soon to be a miniseries), this tour will take you back to 1893 with historian Al Walavich, to follow the trails of Daniel Burnham and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. Visit the [...]
98. Picturesque World’s Fair – Kaleife and his Dromedary
KALEIFE AND HIS DROMEDARY.—The Bedouin and the dromedary, "the ship of the desert," were very much in evidence at the Ottoman's Arab camp, or "Wild East Show ' The "ship" when under full sail around the encampment was gorgeously decorated, and his driver was not less brightly appareled. Why in a region as warm as the desert is supposed to be so much covering should be deemed a necessity [...]
Spring 2020 Trivia Question
Our seasonal 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 Spring 2020 Trivia Question Who was the "Tiger King" of the 1893 World's Fair? A. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. B. Francis Millet C. P. T. Barnum D. Carl Hagenbeck E. George R. Davis Many readers knew that [...]
97. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fettome, A Bedouin Woman
FETTOME, A BEDOUIN WOMAN.—Much as has been written about the Arabs and their wild life upon the North African plains, descriptions have been, as a rule, confined mostly to the men and how the woman of the desert lives, moves and has her being has been left largely to the imagination. So it came that the Bedouin women, at the Columbian Exposition, were looked upon with a good deal [...]
Columbian Exposition Poetry: “The Man in the Moon”
In honor of World Poetry Day, we offer this whimsical verse from the pen of popular newspaper poet Nixon Waterman, published in the December 1892 issue of Illustrated World's Fair. THE MAN IN THE MOON by Nixon Waterman The man in the moon, as he sails through the sky, Can't help but to turn an admiring eye, And linger a while as he passes the site Of that perfectly [...]
96. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Forestry Building
THE FORESTRY BUILDING.— None among the many department structures on the Fair grounds was built with more regard for what was symbolic of its uses than the Forestry Building. It stood very near the southeastern corner of the grounds and its eastern frontage was upon Lake Michigan. Its dimensions were five hundred by two hundred feet, and it had a central height of sixty feet. It was made entirely [...]
Mar. 23, 2020: History of Postcards at the McHenry County (IL) Historical Society and Museum
The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago was home to many firsts, including the first postcard printed as a souvenir in the United States. The McHenry County Historical Society and Museum will offer a program on the history of postcards on Monday, March 23, 2020, at 4 pm. Katherine Hamilton-Smith, former director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserves in Libertyville and founding curator of the Curt [...]
CANCELLED Apr. 11, 2020: Devil in the White City Bus Tour
Experience the murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America on a 4-hour bus tour offered by the Chicago History Museum on Saturday, April 11, 2020, starting at 1 pm. Inspired by Erik Larson’s best-selling book (soon to be a miniseries), this tour will take you back to 1893 with historian Al Walavich, to follow the trails of Daniel Burnham and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. Visit the [...]