Agricultural Building Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

Workers Escaping Death at the 1893 World’s Fair
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Workers Escaping Death at the 1893 World’s Fair

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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 Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, the location likely was the [...]

By Scott|2024-08-21T15:43:39-05:00September 2nd, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Agricultural Building, construction, Horticultural Building|0 Comments

164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South
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164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South

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164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South

THE NORTH CANAL—LOOKING SOUTH —From a point near the west approach to the bridge connecting the Electricity and Manufactures Buildings a view was afforded southward down the South Canal, which had many interesting features. The always thronged bridge between the plaza in front of the Administration Building and the south front of the Manufactures cuts off, it is true, a portion of the view but adds in itself an interesting feature. The photograph from which the illustrations were made [...]

By Randy|2024-05-12T09:49:55-05:00May 12th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Agricultural Building, colonnade, Electricity Building, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Obelisk, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Rostral Columns, South Canal|0 Comments

159. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Front of the Agriculture Building and Lawn
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159. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Front of the Agriculture Building and Lawn

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159. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Front of the Agriculture Building and Lawn

THE NORTH FRONT OF THE AGRICULTURE BUILDING, AND LAWN.—Between the magnificent Agriculture Building and the Grand Basin was a lawn not very broad, but nearly a thousand feet in length, resting the eye with its strip of green, and giving room for a just estimate of the architectural beauties displayed above. In the view given here is afforded not only a charming perspective of the Agriculture Building's graceful front, but of two Exposition features which commanded general admiration and [...]

By Randy|2023-12-27T09:06:06-06:00December 27th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, colonnade, Grand Basin, Peristyle, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Statue of the Republic|0 Comments

The Flying Dutchman Enlightens the World’s Fair of 1893
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The Flying Dutchman Enlightens the World’s Fair of 1893

HISTORY

The Flying Dutchman Enlightens the World’s Fair of 1893

Visitors to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago who found their way into the southwest corner of the Agricultural Building Annex encountered a most curious figure. Rising above a display of farm plows stood a twelve-foot-tall, pot-bellied man flamboyantly dressed and having a pair of huge wings. He stood on a tree stump holding a luminous ear of corn, striking a pose that lampooned the famous Liberty Enlightening the World (aka the Statue of Liberty) by Frédéric Auguste [...]

By Scott|2023-09-15T08:38:26-05:00September 12th, 2023|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, W. H. Mullins Manufacturing Company|0 Comments

154. Picturesque World’s Fair – East front of Machinery Hall and the Obelisk
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154. Picturesque World’s Fair – East front of Machinery Hall and the Obelisk

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154. Picturesque World’s Fair – East front of Machinery Hall and the Obelisk

EAST FRONT OF MACHINERY HALL, AND THE OBELISK.—The area of water extending to the south from the Grand Basin and known as the South Canal was so entirely surrounded by the beautiful in art or architecture that a view across it from any point was sure to be something captivating. The view above is from the northeast corner of the canal, just where the " Farmer's Bridge " terminated on the area in front of the Agriculture Building, with [...]

By Randy|2023-10-10T17:09:30-05:00July 27th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Alexander Phimister Proctor, Farmer's Bridge, Grand Basin, Machinery Hall, Obelisk, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

The Making of the White City (Part 2)
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The Making of the White City (Part 2)

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The Making of the White City (Part 2)

[Continued from Part 1] A great stage decked with ambitious scenery Perhaps the first thing that would strike a stranger entering the World’s Fair grounds in the summer of 1892 would be the silence of the place, the next the almost theatrical unreality of the impression by the sight of an assemblage of buildings so startlingly out of the common in size and form. When I speak of the silence, I mean the effect of silence. There are seven [...]

147. Picturesque World’s Fair – The French Colonies Building
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147. Picturesque World’s Fair – The French Colonies Building

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147. Picturesque World’s Fair – The French Colonies Building

THE FRENCH COLONIES BUILDING.—Situated well over toward the southeast corner of the grounds and out of the great tide of movement, the French Colonies Building at the Exposition did not attract the attention it merited, though it attained a degree of popularity toward the close, as the interesting nature of its contents became known. Its locality was sometimes referred to as "the back yard of the Fair," though it contained many curious and beautiful displays, not the least among [...]

By admin|2023-02-12T00:09:53-06:00January 15th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Blooker's cocoa mill, French Colonies Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Progress (whaling bark), South Pond, windmills|0 Comments

Hiding the pickle at the 1893 World’s Fair
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Hiding the pickle at the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Hiding the pickle at the 1893 World’s Fair

The dramatic merchandizing showcased at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition included a quirky subset of exhibits that might be described as “a blank made out of blank.” Much of it involved playing with food. Visitors could admire a Liberty Bell made out of citrus fruit, a Knight on horseback made out of prunes, a landscape painting made out of cereals and grasses, and a Venus de Milo statue made out of chocolate. One tasty display that was promised to [...]

By Scott|2022-11-16T15:32:42-06:00November 14th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, Heinz|0 Comments

136. Picturesque World’s Fair – Birds-Eye View of the Columbian Fountain
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136. Picturesque World’s Fair – Birds-Eye View of the Columbian Fountain

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136. Picturesque World’s Fair – Birds-Eye View of the Columbian Fountain

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE COLUMBIAN FOUNTAIN.—It was a merit of the famous Columbian Fountain and one indicative of its quality as a great work of art that it was beautiful from whatever direction a view of it might be taken. So perfect were the relations of its parts that even a bird's-eye view gave something symmetrical and picturesque In the illustration, the observer being almost directly north and at a slight elevation, minor details of the barge are not [...]

By Randy|2022-07-10T10:19:29-05:00March 15th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Columbian Fountain, Farmer's Bridge, Machinery Hall, MacMonnies Fountain, Obelisk, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

132. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Columbian Obelisk
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132. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Columbian Obelisk

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132. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Columbian Obelisk

THE COLUMBIAN OBELISK.- The Obelisk, which was the prominent object at the southern end of the South Canal, connected the wonderful civilization the World's Fair represented with the hardly less wonderful civilization of thousands of years ago. Ancient Egypt furnished, in a manner, her contribution to the architecture of the Columbian Exposition, the Obelisk, from a distance, reminding the observer of one of the " Cleopatra's Needles," of which, by the way, an exact reproduction was among the attractions [...]

By Randy|2022-01-08T17:22:45-06:00January 8th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Machinery Hall, Obelisk, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, South Canal, South Colonnade|0 Comments