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The Architectural Influence of the 1893 World’s Fair on “Wicked”
Every way That you look in this city There’s something exquisite You’ll want to visit Before the day’s through! —“One Short Day” by Stephen Schwartz The 2024 blockbuster film Wicked takes audiences into the thrilling dreamworld of Oz. While visiting the Emerald City, attentive viewers may catch glimpses of the 1893 World’s Fair. Ever since L. Frank Baum “discovered” the Land of Oz and published The Wonderful Wizard of [...]
Ignacy Paderewski Battles the Midway Camel
Twenty-two-year-old Ignacy Jan Paderewski (November 18, 1860 – June 29, 1941) was already a rock star when he performed a concert for the opening of the 1893 World’s Fair. The Polish pianist’s adoring fans—enchanted as much by his luxuriant red locks as by his charismatic keyboard performance—succumbed to “Paddymania.” His distinguishing coiffure made Paderewski a common subject of caricatures and cartoons. One example places him back at the World’s [...]
“It’s Ugly.” But worth $150,000! Tiffany Love Cup from 1893 World’s Fair Featured on “Antiques Roadshow”
It may be ugly, but it’s a treasure from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A silver loving cup made by Tiffany & Company for the World’s Fair was brought in for appraisal on Antiques Roadshow Season 28 Episode 20 “Vintage Madison 2024, Hour 1” on PBS. The sterling silver cup is decorated with enameling embedded with turquoise and other stones. The owner inherited the vase from a family member [...]
169. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Beauty Show
THE BEAUTY SHOW—What bore upon its front the legend, "International Dress and Costume Exhibit, or World's Congress of Beauties," was a large rectangular structure seen upon the right soon after entering the Midway Plaisance from the Exposition grounds. Further information regarding the attractions within was conveyed in an additional notice to the effect that "Forty Ladies from Forty Nations" were there on exhibition. The interior consisted chiefly of a [...]
Tale of a Canceled Pass at the 1893 World’s Fair
From the September 30, 1893, issue of Boot and Shoe Recorder comes this verse about whiskers, an entrance pass, and love on the World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. An 1893 patent fot a farm lifting gate. TALE OF A CANCELED PASS I. Cervantes Burton was patentee Of a lifting gate called the “A. B. C.” “It is built in such a simple way That a child can work [...]
Dec. 6-28, 2024: Joffrey Ballet’s “Columbian Nutcracker” (Chicago)
A festive Ferris Wheel, a Dream City, a flurry of snow, dancing dragons, dancing nuts, and dancing rats! It's that time of the year for Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet to stage their spectacular annual production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 6-28, 2023, at the Lyric Opera House (20 N. Wacker Dr. in Chicago) This ballet by choreographer [...]
Nov. 9, 2024: “H. H. Holmes & New Links to Chicago & the White City” (Hazel Crest, IL, and online)
The South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society (SSGHS) will host a presentation on “H. H. Holmes & New Links to Chicago & the White City” at their meeting on Saturday, November 9, 2024. Guest speaker Ray Johnson, known as “The History Cop,” will discuss his research into new links between killer H. H. Holmes and Thomas B. Bryan and Daniel H. Burnham, and a possible link to a swindle [...]
The Amusement Zone of the 1893 Columbian Exposition featured on WTTW’s “Chicago Stories”
“The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition proved that Chicagoans had a healthy appetite for amusement—and that fun could be monetized.” —WTTW’s Chicago Stories An episode of WTTW’s Chicago Stories airing on October 4, 2024, takes viewers on a ride through the history of regional amusement parks such as The White City, Riverview, and Kiddieland. “Amusement Parks” opens with a visit to the 1893 World’s Fair and some dazzling digital animation [...]
1893 World’s Fair buildings were “a counterfeit and a sham”
The excerpt below comes from a profile of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition published in the Pittsburg Dispatch in the summer of 1891, near the start of construction on the fairgrounds. The writer questions the use of staff as the main material for the facades of buildings. At this time, the decision had to yet been made to have all the buildings in the Court of Honor painted white. [...]
Nov. 17, 2024: “MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great World’s Fairs” (Overland Park, KS)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will present MEET ME AT THE FAIR!: Music from the Great “World’s Fairs” on November 17, 2024, in Overland Park, KS. This concerts is a spectacular musical celebration of the legendary world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Music played a key role in these international festivals, launching both hit [...]
Oct. 23, 2024: Columbian Exposition food and lecture (Sewickly, PA)
The Sewickly Valley Historical Society (SVHS) in Sewickly, Pennsylvania, will host an evening of 1893 World’s Fair events on October 23, 2024. “A Bite of History: Chicago Columbian Exposition Edition” and a lecture on “From the Steel City to the White City” are part of their 2024–2025 Program Series. The evening will start at 5:30 pm with SVHS Executive Director, Amanda Schaffer as she introduces the foods being offered [...]
Oct 15, 2024: “Tiffany Chapel: 25 Years at the Morse” (Winter Park, FL)
The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company (1892–1902) exhibited a magnificent chapel interior as the centerpiece of its display for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Since 1999, the chapel has been on view at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, FL. In celebration of the chapel’s 25th anniversary at the Museum, the Morse will exhibit Fathers of the Church, a glass mosaic on [...]
Oct. 21, 2024: “An Author’s Journey” (Geneva, IL)
On Monday, October 21, 2024, the Geneva Public Library is hosting Folo Watkins, author of By Whale Road to the World's Fair. He will share his experience researching and writing about the journey of the Viking ship to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. This presentation is offered in conjunction with the exhibit of the dragon head (newly named "Freya") from the Viking ship. Watkins’s presentation is from 1–2 [...]
168. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Marine Cafe
THE MARINE CAFE.—The Café, built in an attractive semi-Gothic style, located just at the beginning of the east side of the strait, connecting the lagoons with the north pond was most attractive in appearance, while occupying a convenient situation for those who would eat. Naturally, the Marine Café became one of the popular institutions of the Fair. The building was a large one, and afforded rooms for the Bureau [...]
Oct. 9, 2024: “Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893” adult learners course (Manchester, MI)
The Adult Learners Institute of Michigan will take participants to the 1893 World’s Fair on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. John Hauger will offer a class on “The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893” from 2–4 pm at the Manchester District Library (912 City Rd. in Manchester, Michigan). The Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in the New World, was a landmark event in [...]
Sep. 28, 2024: “The Viking Ship and the ‘Discovery’ of America” (online)
The Viking Ship is one of the most impressive relics from the 1893 World's Fair. Learn about the "Viking Ship and the 'Discovery' of America" at a webinar by Timothy Boyce hosted by the Swedish American Museum. This free costs $10 will be held online on Saturday, September 28, 2024, at 10 am. To register, visit: https://swedishamericanmuseum.org/product/33525
Autumn on the Wooded Island in Jackson Park
"An Autumn Scene on Wooded Island" [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean Sep. 30, 1893; digitally colored.] “Once a barren strip of sand protesting against the surrounding marshes,” the Wooded Island emerged “like a magnificent Turkish rug, rich with varied dyes, flung down upon a crystal floor,” wrote Shepp’s World’s Fair Photographed. “A profusion of flowers of every shade and hue gems the sod; groves of trees and [...]
167. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Kentucky Building
THE KENTUCKY BUILDING.—The Kentucky Building was adjacent to that of Missouri, near the northwest corner of the grounds, and was a pleasing structure in the Colonial style. It was seventy-five by ninety feet in dimensions, with fine porches supported by Corinthian pillars. The offices and parlors were large and roomy and the general air one of comfort and hospitality. Inside the building stood a fine statue of Daniel Boone. [...]
Workers Escaping Death at the 1893 World’s Fair
The excerpt below, from The Chicago Record’s History of the World’s Fair, reminds us of the dangerous work that thousands of laborers (mostly immigrants) faced as they built the White City of 1893. The Medical Bureau of the Columbian Exposition officially reported only thirty-two deaths during construction of the fairgrounds. Luckily, the workers mentioned below escaped that fate. [Note: Although the article mentions the first accident happening at the [...]
The Chicago Fair of 1893 Will Remain Unexcelled
In the aftermath of World War II—facing staggering military casualties, the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the specter of nuclear weapons—some people sought solace in fond memories of better times. The following reminiscence of visiting the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago as a young boy appeared in the July 6, 1946, issue of the Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario). The author had grown up in the small town of [...]