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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Illinois Building (p. 78)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 77 – THE ILLINOIS BUILDING THE ILLINOIS BUILDING.—It is but just to say that the Illinois Building was not considered one of the beauties of the World's Fair. The great sum of $800,000 was appropriated by Illinois for World's Fair purposes, and of this sum a quarter of a million dollars was expended on the ambitious structure shown in [...]
Restored Map of Jackson Park Before the 1893 World’s Fair
To celebrate the American Library Association’s Preservation Week (April 21-27, 2019), the Chicago Public Library has posted some remarkable photographs of their conservation work on a very fragile map of Jackson Park before the 1893 World’s Fair. Portion of an 1885 map showing the “General Plan for the Jackson Park Shore Protection.” [Image from the Chicago Public Library.] The “General Plan for the Jackson Park Shore Protection” was drawn [...]
New Biography of Daniel Chester French
Today we’re celebrating the birthday of Daniel Chester French, born on April 20, 1850, and sculptor of The Statue of the Republic and other works for the 1893 World’s Fair. Author's Voice “Virtual Book Signing” video series recently posted the latest episode of “A House Divided” (Season 3, Episode 2). Host Harold Holzer of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop interviews author Dan Weinberg on his new biography of the sculptor, [...]
“Behold the spirit of Chicago’s heart.” Diana of the Tower departs Gotham for the 1893 World’s Fair
Adorning the top of the dome of the Agricultural Building at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago was Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ marvelous statue of Diana. The golden huntress previously had stood high above New York City, atop Madison Square Garden. That was the problem: she stood when she should have rotated. Installed on the building's tower in the fall of 1891 as a graceful weather vane, Diana resisted smooth rotation [...]
Russell L. Lewis
The Chicago History Museum has announced that their Chief Historian Emeritus and Trustee Emeritus Russell Lewis passed away today. Lewis was an eminent World's Columbian Exposition historian, authoring significant collections such as Historic Photos of the Chicago World's Fair (Turner, 2010) and Remembering the Chicago World’s Fair (Turner, 2011). His recent article “A Wheel With a View” in Summer 2017 issue of Chicago History described the Ferris Wheel. We [...]
Gotham’s Golden Goddess: A Tale of Diana of the Tower
“The beautiful statue of Diana which swings as a weather vane above the central dome is one of the great attractions of the Exposition.” --John J. Flinn in Guide to the World’s Fair Grounds, Buildings and Attractions (Standard Guide Co., 1893) The short story reprinted here comes from the November 1892 issue of Comfort, a monthly periodical from Augusta, Maine. Just weeks before, Gotham’s golden goddess--who is the subject [...]
Article on “Diana of the Tower” in New York Archives magazine
“America’s Grandest Tower” by Suzanne Hinman in the Spring 2019 (Volume 18, Number 4) issue of New York Archives magazine explores the 1891 dedication of the new tower of the Madison Square Garden in New York City. Topping the tower was a golden goddess who would come down in less than a year and be shipped off to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. The article features several beautiful photos [...]
May 17-Aug. 18, 2019: “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks” exhibit (Elmhust, IL)
The Elmhurst History Museum will open a new exhibit titled “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland's Amusement Parks” on May 17, 2019. Chicago has had its share of jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring amusement parks, from the rotations of the first Ferris Wheel at the 1893 World's Columbian exhibition to the ups-and-downs of The Bobs at Riverview. This new exhibit celebrates Chicago's favorite destinations for fun and thrills, including early trolley parks and [...]
Certain Mastering Impressions
With great sadness the world witnessed the destruction by fire of significant parts of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris yesterday. Recollections of our visit several years ago--standing beneath the marvelous rose windows and walking among the rooftop gargoyles and chimeras--reminds us why we treasure the architectural and artistic achievements of the past. Those moments stamp the memory forever. This quote comes from “The Art of the White City” [...]
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Eulogy for Louis H. Sullivan
The gravestone for Louis H. Sullivan, in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. Louis H. Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) “The work the master did may die with him—no great matter. What he represented has lived in spite of all drift—all friction, all waste, all slip—since time began for man. In this sense was Louis Sullivan true to tradition—in this sense will the divine spark, given [...]
“The American Spirit of Liberality and Freedom” Reaches Turkey
This note in the April 9, 1894, issue of the Duluth (MN) Evening Herald shared an opinion about how the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition promoted the spread of an “American spirit of liberality and freedom” internationally … and an example of falling short of that ideal within the Ottoman Empire. The Office of the Turkish Commissioners building, designed by Chicago architect J. A. Thain. stood behind the main [...]
Windmills Causing Illness at the 1893 World’s Fair?
The story below comes from the June 6, 1893, issue of the Chicago Times, but feels oddly relevant in light of recent, strange claims making news headlines. In the southeast corner of the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, two men overwhelmed by the great windmill exhibit encounter a sober Columbian guard who offers sage advice. When the World’s Congress on Temperance opened on June 5, many newspapers [...]
Libraries at the Columbian Exposition
“Extremes meet at Chicago.” —librarian Caroline Harwood Garland. The 1893 World’s Fair was full of contrasts: exotic dancing on the Midway and educational exhibits; fountains illuminated by electricity and bibles illuminated by paintings, dynamos and the Dewey decimal system; balloon rides and books. Amidst the Cracker Jack and orange cider was also “food for reflection in the existence of so many libraries.” To celebrate National Library Week, let’s take [...]
A Map of Libraries for the 1893 World’s Fair
At the 1893 World’s Fair, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts displayed “an ingenious map prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, showing at a glance which of the towns in the state have free public libraries and the number of volumes in each library at the beginning of 1893,” according to the March 1894 issue of The Library Journal. The "Free public libraries of Massachusetts" map by George [...]
May 5, 2019: 25th Annual World’s Fair Memorabilia Show (Elk Grove Village, IL)
The 25th Annual World's Fair Memorabilia Show will be held on Sunday, May 5, 2019, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Holiday Inn at 1000 Busse Road (Rt. 83 and Landmeier Rd.) in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Collectors and dealers will meet to buy, sell, and trade items related to World's Fairs from 1876 to the present. Although the main focus will be on the 1933/34 Chicago World's Fair, [...]
May 4, 2019: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)
The Chicago History Museum is offering a “Ride Like the Devil: a Devil in the White City Bike Tour” on Saturday, May 4, 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 Daniel Burnham’s grand plans and [...]
Fool of the Fair
We should expect to encounter a fool on April 1st, and visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition could have met a striking fool hanging in the Palace of Fine Arts. Thomas Shields Clarke's oil painting A Fool's Fool (1887) was on display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. [Image from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.] A Fool's Fool (1887) was a work by artist Thomas [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – East Lagoon by Moonlight (p. 77)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 77 – THE EAST LAGOON BY MOONLIGHT THE EAST LAGOON BY MOONLIGHT.— The night scenes at the Fair were undoubtedly the most beautiful for those who liked dreamy pictures, or half darkness contrasted with a blaze of glorious lights, better than unvarying white beauty. The fireworks, the illumination about the Court of Honor, the colored effects upon the Wooded [...]
From the Balcony of Henry Ives Cobb’s Fisheries Building
Detail from "From the Balcony of the Fisheries Building" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine May 1893. Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) contributed several buildings to the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, but perhaps none so beautiful and intricately detailed as the great Fisheries Building. "In the Fisheries Building, a clever scheme of surface ornament has been composed from casts of [...]
April 26, 2019: 1893 Scavenger Hunt in the Chicago Loop
If you love learning about the history of the 1893 World’s Fair, are passionate about Chicago architecture, enjoy puzzles, and want to stretch your legs, then head to the Chicago Loop for “Glitz, Glamour…and Panic! A Hunt for the History of 1893 in Chicago.” Atlas Obscura Chicago Field Agent Patti Swanson is once again hosting her "Google-proof" scavenger hunt in the Chicago Loop on Friday, April 26, 2019. You [...]