Electricity Building – Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

180. Picturesque World’s Fair – Looking East from the Golden Door
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180. Picturesque World’s Fair – Looking East from the Golden Door

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180. Picturesque World’s Fair – Looking East from the Golden Door

LOOKING EAST FROM THE GOLDEN DOOR.—Very few views, possibly not more than one, were taken eastward from the Golden Door. That remarkable portal was so striking in itself that it did not occur, apparently, to any one of the various photographers to take any picture in its vicinity which did not include the glittering entrance. There were numerous views near the southern extremity of the lagoons, but there was only one taken at the extreme end and looking across [...]

By Randy|2025-12-14T09:51:58-06:00December 14th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Electricity Building, Golden Door, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Mines and Mining Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Wooded Island|0 Comments

The Chicago Orchestra’s 1892 Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”
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The Chicago Orchestra’s 1892 Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”

HISTORY

The Chicago Orchestra’s 1892 Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite”

One of America’s most beloved holiday artistic traditions originated in imperial Russia and came to the United States through Chicago at the time of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. On October 22, 1892, an audience of Chicagoans—joined by distinguished guests in town for the World’s Fair Dedication Day exercises—gathered in the Auditorium to hear a concert by the Chicago Orchestra conducted by Theodore Thomas. During the third piece on the program, songs of waltzing flowers, terpsichorean reeds, and a [...]

By Scott|2025-12-02T09:28:00-06:00December 2nd, 2025|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Auditorium, Bertha Palmer, Clarence Eddy, Daniel Burnham, Dedication Day, Edward Potter, Electricity Building, Exposition Orchestra, Festival Hall, George H. Wilson, Harry G. Selfridge, Joffrey Ballet, John Philip Sousa, Louis Sullivan, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Marshall Field, Music Hall, Russia Day, Theodore Thomas, Walt Disney, Walter Damrosch, William Le Baron Jenney, Woman's Building|0 Comments

Only One Thing in the Whole 1893 Exposition Worth Looking at
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Only One Thing in the Whole 1893 Exposition Worth Looking at

REPRINTS

Only One Thing in the Whole 1893 Exposition Worth Looking at

A man exploring the 1893 World’s Fair in July conveyed this story about an unimpressed visitor from New York: I met a friend on the plaisance yesterday who has just returned from New York. While there he met a New Yorker, whom he asked if he had visited the fair. The New Yorkers said “Yes, in May. I was roasted brown.” “Didn't you like the exposition?” “Like it? I should think not. I wouldn't go across the street to [...]

By Scott|2025-11-14T14:10:18-06:00November 20th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Electricity Building, New York, Thomas Edison|0 Comments

179 Days at the World’s Columbian Exposition
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179 Days at the World’s Columbian Exposition

REPRINTS

179 Days at the World’s Columbian Exposition

“I have made up my mind that six months is too short a time for a man to see and study the Fair,” announced Mr. Thomas Carhart in May of 1893. The wealthy Englishman had come to Chicago to squeeze every possible moment out of the great Columbian Exposition. He planned to visit the fairgrounds in Jackson Park every day for the six months the Fair was open! Mr. Carhart, a resident of Madras, India, for the past thirty-five [...]

By Scott|2025-06-16T11:05:26-05:00June 18th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Electricity Building, Fisheries Building, Palmer House Hotel, tickets|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

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair
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25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

REPRINTS

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

Toward the close of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Critic invited twenty-five notable scholars, writers, and leaders of the day to offer their brief impressions of the World’s Fair. At such a monumental event with so many novelties … what impressed them the most? It is interesting how frequently these contributors sing the same notes as they rhapsodize about the fairgrounds at night and the illumination of the Court of Honor, praise (except for Henry Fuller!) [...]

Ron Soule’s “Escape from the Emerald City” imagines an origin story for Oz at the 1893 World’s Fair
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Ron Soule’s “Escape from the Emerald City” imagines an origin story for Oz at the 1893 World’s Fair

FICTION, PRODUCTS

Ron Soule’s “Escape from the Emerald City” imagines an origin story for Oz at the 1893 World’s Fair

Escape from the Emerald City by Ron Soule. Independently published, 2023. 105 pages. Hardcover, $14.95. ISBN 9798395968029. Paperback, $7.95. ISBN 9798395968111. In the growing library of “fairground fiction,” stories that involve historical figures offer a special treat to readers who enjoy imagining how famous (and soon-to-be-famous) people experienced the 1893 World’s Fair. A then-unknown traveling salesman from Chicago visited the fairgrounds on several occasions with his wife and four sons. Only a few years later he would burst onto [...]

By Scott|2023-12-21T06:05:37-06:00December 21st, 2023|Categories: FICTION, PRODUCTS|Tags: Captive Balloon, Electricity Building, Hagenbeck's Animal Arena, L. Frank Baum, Lorado Taft, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Tower of Light, Volcano of Kilauea|0 Comments

The Making of the White City (Part 2)
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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 [...]

By Scott|2025-07-23T10:15:53-05:00February 13th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Daniel Burnham, Electricity Building, Fisheries Building, Francis Millet, Frederick Law Olmsted, Golden Door, Henry Codman, Henry Ives Cobb, Horticultural Building, Illinois State Building, illumination, Jenny, Karl Bitter, lagoon, Machinery Hall, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Mines and Mining Building, Palace of Fine Arts, Peabody & Stearns, Philip Martiny, Richard Hunt, Solon S. Beman, staff, Statue of the Republic, telephone, U.S. Government Building, Van Brunt & Howe, William Le Baron Jenney, Woman's Building|0 Comments

144. Picturesque World’s Fair – Interior of the Electricity Building
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144. Picturesque World’s Fair – Interior of the Electricity Building

REPRINTS

144. Picturesque World’s Fair – Interior of the Electricity Building

INTERIOR OF THE ELECTRICITY BUILDING.—How the world advances was perhaps better illustrated in the Electricity Building than in any other of the great structures on the grounds. At no previous exposition had there ever been a structure set apart for electrical exhibits and at none could there have been anything like the display here made. The marvelous advance in the use of electricity has been accomplished since Philadelphia and Paris did their best. Science and invention have but lately [...]

By Randy|2023-12-05T09:38:46-06:00October 14th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Benjamin Franklin (statue), Electricity Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Thomas Edison|0 Comments

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 2)
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The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 2)

HISTORY

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 2)

[Part 1 of this article describes the commission and construction of Carl Rohl-Smith’s statue of Benjamin Franklin for the Electricity Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.] “I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known one hundred years hence.” —Benjamin Franklin, July 27, 1783 The capital of the world vanished like a sweet dream after the fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in [...]

By Scott|2022-09-04T09:03:18-05:00September 4th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Benjamin Franklin (statue), Carl Rohl-Smith, Electricity Building, George Pullman, John J. Boyle, Richard Henry Park, Solon S. Beman, Theodore Roosevelt|0 Comments

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 1)
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The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 1)

HISTORY

The Plaster Lighting Catcher of the 1893 World’s Fair: Carl Rohl-Smith’s Benjamin Franklin statue (Part 1)

“The scientists says that electricity is life. Then Jackson Park is of a truth a living thing.” — H. D. Northrop, The World's Fair as Seen in One Hundred Days (1893) A crowd of fans sporting blue and red poured out of the new Franklin Field in Philadelphia on the first day of October in 1895, a warm and sunny start to the college football season. Elated with the Quaker’s 40–0 victory over the visiting team from Swarthmore College, [...]

By Scott|2022-09-04T09:06:10-05:00September 3rd, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Benjamin Franklin (statue), Carl Rohl-Smith, Electricity Building, Enid Yandell, Henry Van Brunt, Herman Vilhelm Bissen, Mark Twain|1 Comment

134. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to the Electricity Building
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134. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to the Electricity Building

REPRINTS

134. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to the Electricity Building

ENTRANCE TO THE ELECTRICITY BUILDING.—The south front of the Electricity Building was by no means deficient in the part it sustained toward making a wall of splendid architecture about the Grand Plaza, and the special feature of this front was, of course, the main entrance to the structure. Here the architects had made their chief study and secured their greatest results. The facades were all relieved by entrances, but the one to the south had special distinction in its [...]

By Randy|2022-01-23T09:09:55-06:00January 23rd, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Benjamin Franklin (statue), Electricity Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

93. Picturesque World’s Fair – Southwest from the Government Building
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93. Picturesque World’s Fair – Southwest from the Government Building

REPRINTS

93. Picturesque World’s Fair – Southwest from the Government Building

SOUTHWEST, FROM THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING—The view southwest from the roof of the United States Government Building embraced a great number of attractive objects. The east lagoon and more than half the Wooded Island appeared conspicuously in the foreground, and there was no elevated place in the grounds from which the island and lagoon could be seen together that did not command a sight worth seeing, for any lover of the beautiful. To the left, immediately m front, is the [...]

By Randy|2020-01-26T06:35:44-06:00January 26th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Electricity Building, Festival Hall, Golden Door, lagoon, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Transportation Building, U.S. Government Building|0 Comments

THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 6)
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THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 6)

REPRINTS

THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 6)

THE CITY OF WONDERS A SOUVENIR OF THE WORLD'S FAIR by Mary Catherine Crowley (1894)

By Scott|2023-12-20T13:45:56-06:00December 27th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Electricity Building, Grover Cleveland, Justice (statue), kinetograph, kinetoscope, Mines and Mining Building, model kitchen, phonograph, rolling chairs, Stollwerk Brothers, telautograph, Thomas Edison, Tower of Light|1 Comment

“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair
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“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair

NEWS, VIDEO

“The Current War” offers only a dimly lit view of the 1893 World’s Fair

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago shines on the big screen, if only for a few minutes. The Current War (2017, released 2019) tells the story of the rancorous rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who adamantly championed direct current (DC) technologies to electrify and illuminate American cities, and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), who banked on alternating current (AC). The legendary “war of the currents” has these titans of the electrical industry setting their sights on powering the Columbian [...]

By Scott|2025-01-30T18:40:44-06:00October 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: Administration Building, Charles Schwab, Daniel Burnham, Dewitt Cregier, electricity, Electricity Building, George Westinghouse, Grover Cleveland, Nikola Tesla, Opening Day, The Current War, Thomas Edison, Tower of Light, Victor Lawson, Zoopraxographical Hall|0 Comments

“Greatly Interested in the World’s Fair is the Wizard.” Thomas Edison’s 1891 Visit to Chicago
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“Greatly Interested in the World’s Fair is the Wizard.” Thomas Edison’s 1891 Visit to Chicago

REPRINTS

“Greatly Interested in the World’s Fair is the Wizard.” Thomas Edison’s 1891 Visit to Chicago

Thomas Edison visited Chicago on May 12, 1891, staying for several days “to attend to some private interests” and to consult with Prof. John P. Barrett, Chief of the Department of Electricity and Electrical Appliances for the World’s Columbian Exposition. [“Proposition for a Compromise” Chicago Inter Ocean May 12, 1891, p. 8.] The article below, from the front page of the May 12, 1891, issue of the Chicago Evening Post, describes his interest in the 1893 World’s Fair and [...]

By Scott|2019-10-27T20:47:54-05:00October 28th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Electricity Building, L. Frank Baum, Thomas Edison|0 Comments

“Quietly Enjoying His Lunch.” Thomas Edison Visits the 1893 World’s Fair
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“Quietly Enjoying His Lunch.” Thomas Edison Visits the 1893 World’s Fair

REPRINTS

“Quietly Enjoying His Lunch.” Thomas Edison Visits the 1893 World’s Fair

In August 1893, Thomas A. Edison visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His time at the World's Fair bears little resemblance to the story portrayed on screen in The Current War. According to the report below, from the September 2, 1893, issue of Electrical Review, Edison kept a low profile and showed little interest in the electrical exhibits. Thomas A. Edison, accompanied by his family, arrived in Chicago last Monday evening, and went immediately to a house on [...]

By Scott|2019-10-26T18:34:12-05:00October 26th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Agricultural Building, Electricity Building, John Barrett, The Current War, Thomas Edison|1 Comment

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – East Lagoon by Moonlight (p. 77)
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – East Lagoon by Moonlight (p. 77)

REPRINTS

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 Island were all charming and, in addition to these, was [...]

By Randy|2019-03-29T04:37:06-05:00March 29th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Electricity Building, lagoon, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

THE LADY OF THE LAKE by Julian Hawthorne Part IV: The Incomparable Loveliness of the Illuminations
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THE LADY OF THE LAKE by Julian Hawthorne Part IV: The Incomparable Loveliness of the Illuminations

REPRINTS

THE LADY OF THE LAKE by Julian Hawthorne Part IV: The Incomparable Loveliness of the Illuminations

Author Julian Hawthorne visited the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Like so many other visitors who recorded their impressions of visiting the World’s Fair, he offered some of his highest praise for the electrical lighting of the night scene in the Dream City, a “banquet of royal beauty.” Reprinted below is the fourth and final part of Julian Hawthorne’s “The Lady of the Lake” about his June visit to the fairgrounds and published in the August 1893 issue [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T10:05:26-06:00February 7th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Agricultural Building, Diana, Electricity Building, illumination, Julian Hawthorne, lagoon, search lights|0 Comments

The Most Wonderful Achievement the World Has Ever Seen
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The Most Wonderful Achievement the World Has Ever Seen

REPRINTS

The Most Wonderful Achievement the World Has Ever Seen

This article from the May 6, 1893, issue of Engineering and Mining News espouses the glory and shortfallings of the Columbian Exposition, which had recently opened in Chicago. View of north lagoon, Art Palace and state buildings, photography by William Henry Jackson. [Image from the Ball State University digital media repository.] The World’s Columbian Fair, which was opened at Chicago, May 1st, is already, in its buildings and promises to be in its exhibits, the most wonderful achievement [...]

By Scott|2018-05-20T09:34:00-05:00May 21st, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Electricity Building, Opening Day, State Buildings|0 Comments