Transported to the Land of the Fairies: A Ride on the Ferris Wheel

The great Ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance of the World’s Columbian Exposition opened to the public on June 21, 1893. The following account comes from Mrs. Julia Waugh, whose letter describing her ride on the Ferris Wheel was published in the July 7, 1893, issue of the Crawfordsville (IN) Weekly Journal. She notes that her “memorable trip” was taken the second day after the opening of the attraction, when 1,000 tickets were purchased in the first two hours. [...]

By Scott|2020-06-13T14:39:34-05:00June 21st, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |2 Comments
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CANCELLED May 30, 2020: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)

This event has been cancelled. The Chicago History Museum is offering a “Ride Like the Devil: a Devil in the White City Bike Tour” on Saturday, May 30, 2019, from 9:45 am to 12:45 pm. Cycle back to 1893, pedal past sites related to the World’s Fair, and discover its lasting influence on Chicago. Along the way, tour guide Greg Borzo, author of Where to Bike Chicago, will uncover Daniel Burnham’s grand plans and the devilish doings of H. [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:59:46-06:00April 30th, 2020|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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WGN-TV Documentary Explores “Hidden History” of African Americans at the 1893 World’s Fair

In honor of Black History Month WGN-TV aired a new half-hour documentary show titled “Hidden History” that included a segment on the experience of African Americans at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. WGN News anchor Micah Materre opened the six-minute segment reminding viewers that “African Americans have a long and storied history in Chicago,” with one important moment of African Americans influence on the world taking place in and around the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Historian [...]

By Scott|2024-08-23T09:30:45-05:00February 29th, 2020|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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World’s Fair Merch from the Driehaus Museum

While visiting “Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany” at the Driehaus Museum, we spotted some 1893 World’s Fair products in the third-floor gift shop. A few came home with us. The iconic Ferris Wheel is featured on a T-shirt ($24) that comes in two colors, an enamel pin ($10) and a pair of earrings. Some Oolong Tea ($9.99) from the Oliver Pluff & Co. comes in a special tin featuring Charles Graham’s lovely artwork of [...]

By Scott|2020-02-09T19:28:28-06:00February 10th, 2020|Categories: PRODUCTS|Tags: |2 Comments
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THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 10)

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

By Scott|2022-12-10T10:03:03-06:00December 31st, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Looking for the Paris Wheel

The man whose name is synonymous with the kinetic attraction he erected on the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair died of typhoid fever on November 22, 1896, at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. Though now unforgettably linked to his engineering marvel, the name of George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. was unfamiliar to many fairgoers who walked by the great wheel, as shown in this story published in the October 29, 1893, issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune. Persist [...]

By Scott|2025-11-18T09:28:19-06:00November 22nd, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Echoes of the White City Part 3: “Fourteen Villages and a Jail”

Entering Battery D Armory, visitors to “Echoes of the White City” faced a replica in miniature of one of the greatest attractions of the 1893 World’s Fair

By Scott|2022-12-10T10:10:12-06:00November 20th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment
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Oct. 24, 2019: “A History of Illinois Ferris Wheels and the 1893 Columbian Exposition” (Assumption, IL)

Macon County Historian Mark Sorensen will speak about the 1893 World’s Fair at the Oct. 24 meeting of the Assumption Historical Society in Assumption, IL. His illustrated talk on “A History of Illinois Ferris Wheels and the 1893 Columbian Exposition” starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Bromwell Lodge (225 N. Chestnut St. in Assumption) and is free and open to the public.

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:55:36-06:00October 16th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – A View Through the Ferris Wheel (p. 85)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 85 – A VIEW THROUGH THE FERRIS WHEEL A VIEW THROUGH THE FERRIS WHEEL.—Imposing as was the Ferris Wheel seen from a distance, a great object towering aloft and showing the location of the Fair from a distance of miles away, it was scarcely less impressive when its monster parts were examined from one of the cars which revolved with it, carrying their hosts of passengers. It was not [...]

By Randy|2021-05-16T11:25:24-05:00August 26th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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Watch a Vintage Ferris Wheel Poster Be Restored

Happy Ferris Wheel Day! On June 21, 1893, the Ferris Wheel on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World’s Fair took its first visitors for a ride in the sky. While the original wheel is long gone, its iconic image graces collectibles too numerous to count. A glass paperweight showing the Ferris Wheel from World’s Fair Auction. Collectors of antiques ponder and debate an important question: Should items be restored or preserved as is? Unrestored antiques may [...]

By Scott|2019-06-21T14:52:59-05:00June 21st, 2019|Categories: ANTIQUES|Tags: |0 Comments
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May 17-Aug. 18, 2019: “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks” exhibit (Elmhust, IL)

The Elmhurst History Museum will open a new exhibit titled “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland's Amusement Parks” on May 17, 2019. Chicago has had its share of jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring amusement parks, from the rotations of the first Ferris Wheel at the 1893 World's Columbian exhibition to the ups-and-downs of The Bobs at Riverview. This new exhibit celebrates Chicago's favorite destinations for fun and thrills, including early trolley parks and suburban attractions like Kiddieland and Dispensa's Kiddie Kingdom. Learn about [...]

By Scott|2019-09-02T09:55:27-05:00April 17th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments
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May 4, 2019: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)

The Chicago History Museum is offering a “Ride Like the Devil: a Devil in the White City Bike Tour” on Saturday, May 4, 2019, from 9:45 am to 12:45 pm. Cycle back to 1893, pedal past sites related to the World’s Fair, and discover its lasting influence on Chicago. Along the way, tour guide Greg Borzo, author of Where to Bike Chicago, will uncover Daniel Burnham’s grand plans and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. The route will [...]

By Scott|2022-07-08T10:00:36-05:00April 4th, 2019|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Ice and Snow on the Midway Plaisance

Here's some cool news from the July 8, 1893, Chicago Dispatch: Yesterday the thermometer nearly reached the one hundredth degree mark, and to-day is not much cooler, yet amidst this sultry heat of midsummer many thousands of visitors to the Midway Plaisance can, and many did, enjoy the enviable pleasure of a genuine sleigh ride on pure white snow. Not imitation snow, but the pure crystal itself. It is in itself worth a trip to Chicago and to the [...]

By Scott|2019-02-01T06:05:18-06:00February 1st, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |1 Comment
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“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, or the Tower of the Sun? This was bolstered by [...]

By Scott|2018-10-19T16:14:35-05:00October 20th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , , , , , |1 Comment
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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 moved by the scenes along the way that she preserved [...]

By Scott|2022-07-08T10:00:15-05:00October 6th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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Pictures from “Pictures from an Exposition”

“Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” has opened at the Newberry Library. “Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World’s Fair” has opened at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The exhibition of nearly two hundred items from the World’s Columbian Exposition fills two galleries in the Library’s newly renovated main floor. Displays are organized into sections on: • Introduction • Construction • Maps and Bird’s Eye Views • Staff and Sculpture • Publicity and [...]

By Scott|2022-10-10T09:01:00-05:00September 30th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Aug. 11, 2018 Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)

The Chicago History Museum is offering a “Ride Like the Devil: a Devil in the White City Bike Tour” on August 11, 2018, from 9 am to noon. Cycle back to 1893, pedal past sites related to the World’s Fair, and discover its lasting influence on Chicago. Along the way, tour guide Greg Borzo, author of Where to Bike Chicago, will uncover Daniel Burnham’s grand plans and the devilish doings of H. H. Holmes. The route will take riders [...]

By Scott|2022-07-08T09:59:44-05:00July 11th, 2018|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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June 2018 Trivia Question

Our monthly newsletter includes a “Palmer Puzzler” exclusive to those who subscribe. The first person to send us the correct answer wins a small prize. The June 2018 Trivia Question When the Ferris Wheel attraction finally opened, on June 21, 1893, which musical group performed in one of the cars for the inaugural rotation? A. the Iowa State Band B. the Exposition Orchestra C. the Irish Village choir D. John Philip Sousa’s band The winner of the June 2018 [...]

By Scott|2018-06-21T08:28:41-05:00June 21st, 2018|Categories: TRIVIA|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Iowa State Band Performs on Inaugural Spin of the Ferris Wheel

The great Ferris Wheel opened to the public on June 21, 1893. Though more than a month late (the fair opened on May 1), the wheel became one of the most popular attraction of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Some 2,000 spectators gathered on the Midway Plaisance for the opening ceremony. The festivities began at 3 pm with speeches by Robert W. Hunt, President of the Ferris Wheel Company; George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., engineer and designer of the metal [...]

By Scott|2018-09-02T09:33:06-05:00June 21st, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment
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