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Fist City: a monumental beer
Move over PBR, there’s a new beer for 1893 World’s Fair enthusiasts. Fist City did not win a blue ribbon at the Columbian Exposition (hey, neither did Pabst!), because Revolution Brewing first released their pale ale in 2014. Initially offered only on tap at Big Star—a self-described “bourbon and beer-focused, taco-slinging, late-night honky-tonk in the heart of Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood”—Fist City’s popularity encouraged Revolution to offer this brew year-round, [...]
Palacio’s “World of Iron”
Imagine a colossal globe—six times larger in diameter than the “Spaceship Earth” geodesic sphere at Disney’s Epcot Center and supported by a base as tall as the original Ferris Wheel—towering over the 1893 Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Miles of tramway would carry visitors along a spiral path rising inside the globe and then emerge and continue ascending around the exterior to an observation pinnacle eclipsing any man-made structure. That stupendous [...]
Repairing the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge
The Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge has seen better days. Closed since 2015 due to structural deterioration, this pedestrian bridge provides the only east-west path across Jackson Park between the Museum of Science and Industry at E. 57th Street on the north to almost E. 63rd Street / Hayes Drive on the south end. Its reconstruction and re-opening is welcome news to everyone who uses Jackson Park and especially to [...]
“A Wheel With a View” in Summer 2017 Chicago History
Summer 2017 Chicago History magazine. Who can resist an unexpected trip to the Midway? While I always enjoy ripping opening the envelope to reveal the latest issue of Chicago History magazine published by the Chicago History Museum, the Summer 2017 issue offered a special treat. A gorgeous image of Charles Graham's painting of the Ferris Wheel graces the cover, complementing a 28-page feature, "A Wheel With a [...]
Dec. 1-30, 2017 (Chicago): Joffrey Ballet returns to the Fair
Chicago's Joffrey Ballet will be returning to the Columbian Exposition with their 2017 production of The Nutcracker, running from December 1 to 30 at the Auditorium Theater. This spectacular ballet by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon premiered in 2016 and 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 is creating the fair's iconic [...]
A Description of Dedication Day
A description of Dedication Day from Shepp’s World’s Fair Photographed by James W. Shepp and Daniel B. Shepp (Globe Bible Publishing Co., 1893): DEDICATION OF EXPOSITION, OCTOBER 22, 1892 Never in the history of the world has a sight more thrilling been presented to the gaze and understanding of man than that of the Dedication of the World's Columbian Exposition, October 20, 21, and 22, 1892. Great crowds flocked [...]
From the Emerald City to the White City
Having been a devoted L. Frank Baum enthusiast for decades, I developed a keen interest in learning more about his life and times upon moving to Chicago in the summer of 2003. The author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz provided the invitation to explore the history of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Many sources have offered commentary—ranging from the factual to the fanciful—on Baum’s connections to the [...]