Fisheries Building – Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

In Praise of the Wondering Crowds at the Columbian Exposition
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In Praise of the Wondering Crowds at the Columbian Exposition

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In Praise of the Wondering Crowds at the Columbian Exposition

Abby Frances Hamlin Abbott (1837–1907) was the daughter of Hannibal Hamlin, the 15th Vice President of the United States (1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln’s first term), and the wife of Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of The Outlook. In her “Just Among Ourselves” column in the December 1893 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, Mrs. Lyman Abbott extols the comportment and curiosity of Columbian Exposition crowds: Nothing at the World’s Fair interested me so much as the [...]

By Scott|2026-08-27T13:11:57-05:00August 28th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Fisheries Building|0 Comments

186. Picturesque World’s Fair – From the Balcony of the Woman’s Building
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186. Picturesque World’s Fair – From the Balcony of the Woman’s Building

REPRINTS, Uncategorized

186. Picturesque World’s Fair – From the Balcony of the Woman’s Building

FROM THE BALCONY OF THE WOMAN'S BUILDING.—The view afforded from the balcony of the Woman's Building might have been enjoyed by thousands more than was really the case had the broad floor of that balcony been well supplied with seats. For some reason, however, this was not the case, and the many, who in the shade the building afforded in the afternoon might have sat at ease enjoying the prospect across the lagoons and wooded island, with the National [...]

By Randy|2026-07-18T16:50:39-05:00July 18th, 2026|Categories: REPRINTS, Uncategorized|Tags: Fisheries Building, Illinois State Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, U.S. Government Building, Woman's Building|0 Comments

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

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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

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

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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!) [...]

160. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to Fisheries Arcade
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160. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to Fisheries Arcade

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160. Picturesque World’s Fair – Entrance to Fisheries Arcade

ENTRANCE TO FISHERIES ARCADE.—The Fisheries Building, because of the peculiar form of the site to which it was relegated, consisted of a rectangular central structure connected by curved arcades with circular pavilions on either side. The view here given is that of an entrance to one of the connecting arcades, and affords an excellent idea of the graceful and novel decoration resorted to in this structure, together with an example of mechanical duty performed too well. The columns of [...]

By Randy|2024-01-30T17:49:09-06:00January 28th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Fisheries Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments

Aug 8-Oct. 31, 2023: “World’s Finest: Fly-Fishing Tackle” (Monee, IL)
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Aug 8-Oct. 31, 2023: “World’s Finest: Fly-Fishing Tackle” (Monee, IL)

EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)

Aug 8-Oct. 31, 2023: “World’s Finest: Fly-Fishing Tackle” (Monee, IL)

A temporary exhibit featuring some historical fishing from the 1893 World’s Fair will open this fall at the Monee Reservoir Visitor Center in Monee, Illinois. Their exhibit “World’s Finest: Fly-Fishing Tackle” highlights influential anglers, all of whom exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This ongoing program runs from Tuesday, Aug. 8, to Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, at the Visitor Center (27341 S Ridgeland Ave in Monee) and is free. Paintings on display in the Angling Pavilion [...]

By Scott|2023-12-17T08:09:43-06:00July 8th, 2023|Categories: EVENTS (past), EXHIBITS (past)|Tags: Fisheries Building|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 [...]

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

137. Picturesque World’s Fair – North and West from the Government Building
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137. Picturesque World’s Fair – North and West from the Government Building

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137. Picturesque World’s Fair – North and West from the Government Building

NORTH AND WEST FROM THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING.—From the dome of the Government Building the prospect north and west afforded as much variety as could be had from any point of observation of the Fair Grounds, since in other directions the view was either much shorter or was cut off by the huge department structures. The illustration shows the Fisheries in the foreground, the details of the south façade of the main building outlined very clearly at such short distance. [...]

By Randy|2022-04-24T13:28:09-05:00April 24th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Brazil Building, Café de la Marine, California State Building, Fisheries Building, Guatemala Building, Illinois State Building, Merchant Tailors' Building, Michigan State Building, New York State Building, Ohio State Building, Palace of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania State Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Spectatorium, Swedish Building (Sweden), U.S. Government Building, Venezuela Building, Washington State Building, Wooded Island|0 Comments

“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 10: A Cave of the Sea
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“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 10: A Cave of the Sea

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“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 10: A Cave of the Sea

Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 9 We roamed through a cave of the sea;[1] on either side rose lofty pillared arches, thickly broidered and crusted with myriad growths of ocean's mysterious depths and of its various tributaries. Shells in all their whorls and spirals and intricate convolutions; half sentient sea anemones, sea ferns and broad leaved kelps, branching lace like and weeping willowy corals, arrowy reeds and floating lily pads, [...]

By Scott|2021-04-02T11:21:35-05:00November 17th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Fisheries Building|2 Comments

THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 9)
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THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 9)

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THE CITY OF WONDERS: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair (Chapter 9)

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

By Scott|2019-12-20T09:08:47-06:00December 30th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Fisheries Building|1 Comment

Chicago’s Alligator Problems
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Chicago’s Alligator Problems

HISTORY, NEWS

Chicago’s Alligator Problems

“One day spent among the curious works of nature found in the Fish and Fisheries building was worth a whole year’s reading about them.” -- “Exposition as an Educator” in Campbell's Illustrated History of the World's Columbian Exposition. A new resident to a Chicago city park has been (occasionally) making waves and making international news. An alligator spotted earlier this week swimming the lagoon of Humboldt Park is now drawing large crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of the [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:33:55-06:00July 12th, 2019|Categories: HISTORY, NEWS|Tags: Fisheries Building, George R. Davis, Joseph W. Collins, William S. MacHarg|0 Comments

From the Balcony of Henry Ives Cobb’s Fisheries Building
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From the Balcony of Henry Ives Cobb’s Fisheries Building

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From the Balcony of Henry Ives Cobb’s Fisheries Building

Detail from "From the Balcony of the Fisheries Building" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine May 1893. Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) contributed several buildings to the fairgrounds of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, but perhaps none so beautiful and intricately detailed as the great Fisheries Building. "In the Fisheries Building, a clever scheme of surface ornament has been composed from casts of starfish, seahorses, crabs, lobsters, and creatures of land and water [...]

By Scott|2019-03-26T20:55:53-05:00March 27th, 2019|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Fisheries Building, Henry Ives Cobb|0 Comments

Pictures from “Pictures from an Exposition”
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Pictures from “Pictures from an Exposition”

NEWS

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: Ferris Wheel, Fisheries Building, Glorification of the Arts, Hagenbeck's Animal Arena, lagoon, Michigan State Building, Newberry Library, sheet music, Simon Pokagon, Wooded Island|0 Comments

Yerkes Observatory Faces Uncertain Future
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Yerkes Observatory Faces Uncertain Future

NEWS

Yerkes Observatory Faces Uncertain Future

Perched on a hilltop above Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, stands a magnificent structure having two significant connections to the 1893 World’s Fair. After more than 120 years of operation, this important legacy of the Columbian Exposition faces an uncertain future. Architect Henry Ives Cobb. (Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. (Graphic Co., 1894).] Henry Ives Cobb, born on August 18, 1859, in Brookline, Massachusetts, had become one of Chicago's most distinguished architects by the time of the [...]

By Scott|2023-04-16T18:07:26-05:00August 19th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: Café de la Marine, Charles T. Yerkes, Chicago Athletic Association, East India Building, Fisheries Building, Henry Ives Cobb, Indiana State Building, Lake Geneva, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Newberry Library, Palmer Mansion, Street in Cairo, Yerkes Observatory, Yerkes Telescope|0 Comments

Cephalopod Week Visits the 1893 World’s Fair
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Cephalopod Week Visits the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Cephalopod Week Visits the 1893 World’s Fair

“Cephalopod Week” on NPR’s Science Friday celebrates the “amazing, adaptive, and sometimes creepy” family of sea creatures that includes the squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus. Among the wonders of the 1893 Word's Fair lurked several tentacled delights. Armed with sucking disks on its tentacles Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair could view cephalopods inside Henry Ives Cobb’s beautiful Fisheries Building. Trumball White and William Igleheart’s World's Columbian Exposition Chicago 1893 (P. W. Ziegler, 1893) describes some of the attractions [...]

By Scott|2018-06-19T09:44:56-05:00June 19th, 2018|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Anthropological Building, Field Museum, Fisheries Building, Henry Ives Cobb, James Henry Emerton, octopus, squid, Ward’s Natural Science|0 Comments

Opening Day, Part 12: Tour of the Fairgrounds
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Opening Day, Part 12: Tour of the Fairgrounds

OPENING DAY

Opening Day, Part 12: Tour of the Fairgrounds

Tour of the Fairgrounds This is Part 12 of our series “Opening Day of the World’s Fair,” which explores the events of May 1, 1893, at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The full series can be found here. After the “Banquet of Nations” luncheon, President Cleveland and his entourage embarked on a whirlwind tour of the Columbian Exposition grounds and buildings. They departed from the north entrance of the Administration Building where carriages were waiting. “President Cleveland [...]

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Fisheries Building (p. 35)
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Fisheries Building (p. 35)

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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Fisheries Building (p. 35)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 35 – THE FISHERIES BUILDING THE FISHERIES BUILDING.—Quite unlike any other structure on the grounds, yet so situated and so constructed as to blend with the harmonious whole of the Exposition, the Fisheries Building afforded a striking example of an obstacle overcome by architectural genius. The space allotted to the Fisheries was irregular in form, and in what was considered an unpromising locality, but the novel building erected was as symmetrical [...]

By Randy|2018-03-11T10:09:26-05:00February 26th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Fisheries Building, Henry Ives Cobb, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|2 Comments

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS (p. 26)
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS (p. 26)

REPRINTS

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS (p. 26)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 26 A VIEW TOWARD THE NORTHWEST.—From the roof of the Government Building some of the finest views of certain portions of the World's Fair grounds were had, and, among these, the one here presented is not the least attractive. It is from the north end of the roof and taken toward the northwest, it must have been in the early morning, for scarcely a figure is visible on the [...]

By Randy|2018-03-11T14:38:09-05:00January 27th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Children's Building, Fisheries Building, Ho-o-den, lagoon, Midway Plaisance, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Puck Building, U.S. Government Building|0 Comments