Agricultural Building Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

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

REPRINTS

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

REPRINTS

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

REPRINTS

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

REPRINTS

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

REPRINTS

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

REPRINTS

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

127. Picturesque World’s Fair – Eastern Portal of Machinery Hall
Gallery
127. Picturesque World’s Fair – Eastern Portal of Machinery Hall

REPRINTS

127. Picturesque World’s Fair – Eastern Portal of Machinery Hall

EASTERN PORTAL OF MACHINERY HALL.—The view here given is an admirable one of the eastern entrance to Machinery Hall and makes plain the remarkable architectural style of that great edifice. The entrance has been described at length, but only such a view as this, the reproduction of a photograph taken from the Agriculture Building at a point directly across the canal, could bring out the charming details. The portico of this entrance was a popular resort because here was [...]

By Randy|2021-10-16T05:24:37-05:00October 16th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, gondolas, Machinery Hall, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, South Canal|0 Comments

Remembering Nancy Green, Aunt Jemima, and the 1893 World’s Fair
Gallery
Remembering Nancy Green, Aunt Jemima, and the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Remembering Nancy Green, Aunt Jemima, and the 1893 World’s Fair

Though relatively unknown at the time, one participant in the 1893 World’s Fair later became a famous fixture of food advertising and a part of many people’s kitchens for more than a century. For the past ninety-seven years, the final resting place of the real woman behind the character was an unmarked plot of grass in a cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. A sign welcoming guests to the September 5, 2020, headstone ceremony for Nancy Green. On [...]

By Scott|2024-01-15T07:42:58-06:00September 9th, 2020|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Agricultural Building, Aunt Jemima, Nancy Green, Thomas Edison|2 Comments