Ferris Wheel Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

Looking for the Paris Wheel
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Looking for the Paris Wheel

REPRINTS

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|2019-10-16T21:13:12-05:00November 22nd, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Ferris Wheel, George Ferris|0 Comments

Echoes of the White City Part 3: “Fourteen Villages and a Jail”
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Echoes of the White City Part 3: “Fourteen Villages and a Jail”

HISTORY

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

Oct. 24, 2019: “A History of Illinois Ferris Wheels and the 1893 Columbian Exposition” (Assumption, IL)
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Oct. 24, 2019: “A History of Illinois Ferris Wheels and the 1893 Columbian Exposition” (Assumption, IL)

EVENTS (past)

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: Ferris Wheel|0 Comments

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – A View Through the Ferris Wheel (p. 85)
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – A View Through the Ferris Wheel (p. 85)

REPRINTS

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: Ferris Wheel, George Ferris, Midway Plaisance, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

Watch a Vintage Ferris Wheel Poster Be Restored
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Watch a Vintage Ferris Wheel Poster Be Restored

ANTIQUES

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: Ferris Wheel|0 Comments

May 17-Aug. 18, 2019: “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks” exhibit (Elmhust, IL)
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May 17-Aug. 18, 2019: “Worlds of Wonder: Remembering Chicagoland’s Amusement Parks” exhibit (Elmhust, IL)

EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)

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: Ferris Wheel|0 Comments

May 4, 2019: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)
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May 4, 2019: Ride Like the Devil in a “Devil in the White City” Bike Tour (Chicago)

EVENTS (past)

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: bicycles, Chicago History Museum, Devil in the White City (book), Devil in the White City (screen), Ferris Wheel, H. H. Holmes, Rookery Building|0 Comments

Ice and Snow on the Midway Plaisance
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Ice and Snow on the Midway Plaisance

REPRINTS

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: De La Vergne Refrigerating Machine Company, Ferris Wheel, Ice Railway, Midway Plaisance|1 Comment

“World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism”
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“World’s Fairs and the Death of Optimism”

NEWS

“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: Dankmar Adler, Ferris Wheel, Golden Door, Lorado Taft, Louis Sullivan, Sophia Hayden, Transportation Building, White Rabbits, Woman's Building|1 Comment

Oct. 6-20, 2018: Chicago a cappella Sings Music of the Columbian Exposition
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Oct. 6-20, 2018: Chicago a cappella Sings Music of the Columbian Exposition

EVENTS (past)

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: Ferris Wheel, Katharine Lee Bates, music|0 Comments