A Sea of Humanity This is Part 3 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. As the procession of the President of the United States began its march south on Michigan Avenue, thousands of people in downtown Chicago began forming their own spontaneous parade to the World’s Fair. Everyone on West Madison Street and North [...]
Presidential Procession to the Fairgrounds This is Part 2 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. Finely decorated with flags and bunting The Auditorium Building, where the Duke of Vergua stayed. [Image from the Rijksmueum, Amsterdam.] On the morning of Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Fair, the center of attraction in downtown Chicago [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 42 – THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING.—The heart of the great entity known as the Columbian Exposition was in the Administration Building. Here were the offices of the Presidents and here, also, those of the Director-General and some of his immediate lieutenants. From here the vast machinery was directed and controlled, and about here as a nucleus thronged the multitude preliminary to any great festal occasion. It was [...]
We conclude a trio of stories this week about President Grover Cleveland’s visit to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago with a newspaper report about a handsome Columbian Exposition keepsake. The following tidbit about Opening Day of the Columbian Exposition on May 1, 1893, comes from “The Great Fair Opens” in the June 1893 issue of Current Literature [public domain]. Bibliophiles may wonder where this handsome volume is today! ___________________________________________________________ President Cleveland, says the Chicago Record, carried away with [...]
My reading copy of PICTURESQUE WORLD'S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS has a broken binding and many ripped and tattered pages. In order to preserve the images and text for further enjoyment, I have decided to scan and post the images with captions. I'll do my best to remove any folds, foxing, rips and tears, fading and damage that has occurred in the past 124 years and upload them over the next few months. Please comment or email us [...]
On November 25, 1899, George R. Davis died in Chicago. He served as the Director-General of the 1893 World’s Fair. This short biographic sketch of Davis appears in "My Country, Tis of Thee !" or, the United States of America; Past, Present and Future by Willis Fletcher Johnson and John Habberton, (John Y. Huber Company, 1892): A portrait of George R. Davis from Picturesque World's Fair (W. B. Conkey, 1894) The Director-General of the Exhibition, its chief [...]
