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Election Day is Tuesday, November 6. Remember to Vote.
Just a friendly reminder from worldsfairchicago1893.com to exercise your right to vote this election day, November 6, 2018. "Miss Chicago Up to Date" showing a suffragette posing as the Statue of the Republic from the 1893 World's Fair. [Image from the August 11, 1913, issue of The Chicago Examiner.]
Dec. 4, 2018: “Christmas at the Fair: The Joffrey’s New Nutcracker” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Tuesday, December 4, 2018, the Newberry will host “Christmas at the Fair: The Joffrey's New Nutcracker”. A special conversation with Alison Hinderliter, Ashley Wheater, and Hedy Weiss about the Joffrey Ballet’s 2018 production of The Nutcracker, set during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The lecture [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Machinery Hall (p. 68)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 68 – MACHINERY HALL MACHINERY HALL.—One of the most elaborate structures of the Columbian Exposition, Machinery Hall, or the Palace of Mechanic Art as it was termed officially, fully justified by its general effect the attention paid to ornamental details. The genius who achieved the lesser thing so well did not fail in the greater. Located at the south [...]
Dec. 1-30, 2018: Joffrey Ballet’s World’s Fair “Nutcracker” (Chicago)
Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet once again will stage their spectacular production of The Nutcracker, with story set on the fairgrounds of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Performances run from December 1 to 30 at the Auditorium Theater. This new ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, which premiered in 2016, invites the audience to … “journey inside Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair with Wheeldon’s critically acclaimed holiday masterpiece. When young Marie and her mother, a sculptress who [...]
End of an Epoch: October 30, 1893
October 30, 1893 was Closing Day of the World's Columbian Exposition. "The end came at sunset. The great Columbian Exposition faded as quietly and sadly as an autumn day, and when the belching cannon had sent a score of shots to heaven and pelted the domes and pinnacles with a million echoes the giant had died." --from “End of an Epoch” The Chicago Herald, October 31, 1893, p.1 [...]
The Dying Scene of this Magnificent Exposition: Mayor Carter Harrison’s Final Speech
World’s Columbian Exposition celebrated “American Cities Day” on Saturday, October 28, 1893, two days before the close of the Fair. Chicago’s Mayor, Carter Harrison, hosted what was thought to be the largest congregation of U.S. mayors ever assembled. Greeting the guests as they arrived on the fairgrounds on the bitterly cold day was the blast of a cannon and musical fanfares from a group of sixteen trumpeters stationed around [...]
What was Chicago’s official color for the Columbian Exposition?
Frank Lloyd Wright was known for his Cherokee red, and Maxfield Parrish had his own blue. Diana Vreeland was known for wearing red, and Shelby Latcherie’s colors were "blush" and "bashful" (a.k.a “pink” and “pink”). Icons often have a signature color. In October of 1892, Chicago excitedly prepared for her coming out ball. The world soon would arrive to see the Fair, and downtown businessmen decided to decorate their city [...]
“World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism”
Darran Anderson’s essay “World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism” (citylab.com, October 3, 2018) addresses the fading luster of World’s Fairs and uses some examples from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to illustrate his point. “World’s Fairs fell from grace,” writes Anderson. “Who could blame nostalgia towards witnessing the Crystal Palace, the head of the Statue of Liberty in a Parisian park, the extra-terrestrial Trylon and Perisphere, [...]
Remembering Sophia Hayden, architect of the Woman’s Building
Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Sophia Gregoria Hayden on October 17, 1868, in Santiago, Chile. The first female graduate of the four-year program in architecture at MIT, Hayden won the national competition to design the Woman’s Building for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. In her essay on the Woman’s Pavilion, Anna Burrows observes that “due to its limited dimensions, Sophia Hayden deemed it more effective to [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Whaleback, “Christopher Columbus” (p. 67)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 67 – THE WHALEBACK, "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS." THE WHALEBACK, "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS."—The steamboat company accorded the privilege of controlling the passenger traffic by water between the central part of Chicago and the Fair Grounds had a number of boats in its service but none to compare either in size or speed with the "Christopher Columbus,' popularly known as the "Whale-back." The [...]
Nov. 15, 2018: “From White City to Green Haven: Jackson Park’s Late 19th-Century Transformations” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Thursday, November 15, 2018, the Newberry will host “From White City to Green Haven: Jackson Park's Late 19th-Century Transformations”. Historian Julia Bachrach will highlight the early development of Jackson Park, exploring the ways in which natural features, Olmsted’s philosophies about society, recreational needs and expectations, [...]
Nov. 2, 2018-Jan. 5, 2020: “Brewing Up Chicago” at the Field Museum (Chicago)
The immigrant story behind Chicago’s rich beer history is the focus of a new exhibition that opens on November 2 at the Field Museum in Chicago. History and beer fans visiting Brewing Up Chicago: How Beer Transformed a City will travel through time to learn about Chicago’s founding in 1833 and the decades leading up to the World’s Columbian Exposition 60 years later. (Left) A medal given to [...]
Oct. 13, 2018: “The History of Jackson Park” at Chicago Public Library
As part of the annual Chicago Open Archives program, the Chicago Public Library will open their collection on Saturday, October 13, for an event exploring the history of the city park that became home to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “From Swampland to Presidential Center: The History of Jackson Park” will be held from 10 am to noon at the Harold Washington Library Center. CPL offers this description of [...]
Nov. 10, 2018: “Middle Eastern Dance at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Saturday, November 10, 2018, the Newberry will host two events about Middle Eastern Dance. “Dancing Remains: Female Entertainers Before, During, and After the Columbian Exposition of 1893”. Meiver de la Cruz, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Oberlin College, revisits the historical precedents and ideological [...]
Nov. 10, 2018: “Crafting the World’s Fair” at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
The Newberry Library’s Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair includes a series of rich programs about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. On Saturday, November 10, 2018, the Newberry will host “Crafting the World's Fair” [https://www.newberry.org/11102018-second-saturday-november-crafting-worlds-fair]. Author and artist Laura Nyman Montenegro will read her book The Most Magical World’s Fair and lead children in a craft project inspired by the Fair. The children’s event runs from 10-11:30am [...]
Remembering Harlow Higinbotham, President of the World’s Columbian Exposition
Today we mark the birthday of Harlow Niles Higinbotham (October 10, 1838 – April 18, 1919), who served as the third President of the World’s Columbian Exposition Company, following terms of Lyman J. Gage and William T. Baker. The quote below, reprinted in Harriet Monroe’s Harlow Niles Higinbotham: A Memoir with Brief Autobiography and Extracts from Speeches and Letters (R.F. Seymour, 1920) came from a speech that Higinbotham made [...]
October 9, 1893. Could it be possible that 754,000 were assembled together to celebrate a peaceful event?
October 9, 1893, was “the greatest gathering in history” and the “grandest spectacle in modern times.” Chicago Day at the 1893 World’s Fair shattered all previous attendance records with 713,646 paid admissions to the Fair and over three-quarters of a million of people inside the gates of the White City. The event commemorated the night of October 9, 1871, when the Great Fire ripped through downtown Chicago. Having risen [...]
October 2018 Trivia Question
Our monthly 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 October 2018 Trivia Question For the grand night pageant held on Chicago Day (October 9), the General Electric Company and Chicago Edison sponsored a float shaped as … A. a giant light bulb B. a wizard of electricity [...]
Oct. 5 – Dec. 28, 2018: “Seeds of Time: Binghamton at the World’s Fair” at the Bundy Museum (Binghamton, NY)
The Bundy Museum of History and Art in Binghamton, New York, has opened a new exhibit titled “Seeds of Time: Binghamton at the World’s Fair” showcasing that city’s involvement with the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The museum notes: “The World’s Fair opened the door to the future, and schools and businesses representing Binghamton sent their best work to display. To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Fair, this [...]
Oct. 6-20, 2018: Chicago a cappella Sings Music of the Columbian Exposition
The vocal group Chicago a cappella will feature some music from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in a concert titled “Chicago, Chicago with Geoffrey Baer.” The concert includes the patriotic song “America the Beautiful” with music by Samuel Ward and lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates (arr. Deke Sharon). During the summer of 1893, Bates traveled from her home in Boston to Colorado. The English professor and writer was so [...]