Grover Cleveland Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

“Isn’t it hideous?” Cleveland Caricature is a Columbian Claptrap
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“Isn’t it hideous?” Cleveland Caricature is a Columbian Claptrap

REPRINTS

“Isn’t it hideous?” Cleveland Caricature is a Columbian Claptrap

A flower arrangement made of immortelles (everlastings) at the 1893 World’s Fair intended to depict President Grover Cleveland. The floral display in the Horticultural Building turned heads and turned stomachs. This article in the Chicago Tribune about the “Caricature in Immortelles” included a headline declaring “The Alleged Cleveland Picture in the Horticultural Building an Atrocity.” Under the great dome of the horticultural building, just opposite the main entrance, through which most strangers approached the beautiful display of plants and [...]

By Scott|2025-03-11T11:59:25-05:00March 18th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Grover Cleveland, Horticultural Building, John Thorpe|0 Comments

United States Presidents Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair
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United States Presidents Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

United States Presidents Who Visited the 1893 World’s Fair

Greeting ex-President Benjamin Harrison when he visited the Indiana State Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean September 28, 1893.] Thirteen men who served as President of the United States lived at the time of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Five of them are known to have visited Chicago to see the Fair. Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) 19th U.S. President (Republican) from March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881. Rutherford [...]

By Scott|2025-02-17T12:00:38-06:00February 17th, 2025|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, William McKinley|0 Comments

Charles Dana’s 1892 Roast of Chicago, Part 4. Chicago Responds to the New York Sun’s “Thoroughly Mugmump Concoction”
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Charles Dana’s 1892 Roast of Chicago, Part 4. Chicago Responds to the New York Sun’s “Thoroughly Mugmump Concoction”

REPRINTS

Charles Dana’s 1892 Roast of Chicago, Part 4. Chicago Responds to the New York Sun’s “Thoroughly Mugmump Concoction”

The May 29, 1892, issue of New York Sun contained a nearly full-page invective titled “Chicago As Chicago Is.” Although the piece was signed "THE PICADOR," news outlets attributed this diatribe directly to the Sun’s editor and owner, Charles Dana. Having rebounded from the Great Fire of 1871, the Windy City easily extinguished his malicious editorial roast.

By Scott|2024-09-12T11:33:37-05:00October 13th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Charles Dana, Grover Cleveland, New York|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

Night and Day Differences at the 1893 World’s Fair
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Night and Day Differences at the 1893 World’s Fair

NEWS

Night and Day Differences at the 1893 World’s Fair

The October 2019 release of the film The Current War will offer many people their first view of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A recent trailer offered a tantalizing peak at how the special effects team has recreated the White City. In an attempt to provide some historical background, BBC History recently published an article on the “real history” of the World’s Fair in Chicago that included this description of the Opening Ceremony: “Grover Cleveland had one of the more straightforward [...]

By Scott|2019-07-30T13:02:14-05:00August 2nd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: Grover Cleveland, Opening Day, The Current War|0 Comments

The Dying Scene of this Magnificent Exposition: Mayor Carter Harrison’s Final Speech
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The Dying Scene of this Magnificent Exposition: Mayor Carter Harrison’s Final Speech

REPRINTS

The Dying Scene of this Magnificent Exposition: Mayor Carter Harrison’s Final Speech

World’s Columbian Exposition celebrated “American Cities Day” on Saturday, October 28, 1893, two days before the close of the Fair. Chicago’s Mayor, Carter Harrison, hosted what was thought to be the largest congregation of U.S. mayors ever assembled. Greeting the guests as they arrived on the fairgrounds on the bitterly cold day was the blast of a cannon and musical fanfares from a group of sixteen trumpeters stationed around Music Hall. Mayors represented the great cities of Philadelphia, Milwaukee, [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T10:10:40-06:00October 28th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: American Cities Day, Carter Harrison, Columbian Liberty Bell, Daniel Burnham, Devil in the White City (book), Eugene Patrick Prendergast, Grover Cleveland, John Root, Manhattan Day, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Music Hall, New York, New York State Building, Tiffany|0 Comments

Inside the Administration Building Dome: “The Glorification of the Arts and Sciences” by William Dodge (Part I)
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Inside the Administration Building Dome: “The Glorification of the Arts and Sciences” by William Dodge (Part I)

HISTORY

Inside the Administration Building Dome: “The Glorification of the Arts and Sciences” by William Dodge (Part I)

PART I: DECORATING THE DOME OF THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING “Fame comes only after death to those who have slaved during life.” —William de Leftwich Dodge The gem and crown of the Exposition Along with the Ferris Wheel and the Statue of the Republic, this magnificent structure is one of the most iconic images of the 1893 World’s Fair. With its grand and golden dome, the Administration Building towered over the fairgrounds from a commanding position of honor at the [...]

By Scott|2022-03-05T10:33:42-06:00September 2nd, 2018|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: Administration Building, Daniel Burnham, Francis Millet, Frederick MacMonnies, Glorification of the Arts, Grover Cleveland, Horticultural Building, MacMonnies Fountain, Opening Day, Princess Eulalia, Richard Hunt, William Dodge, William Pretyman|1 Comment

Virility on the Midway: “The Longest Beard in the World” (Death Valley Days, 1956)
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Virility on the Midway: “The Longest Beard in the World” (Death Valley Days, 1956)

VIDEO

Virility on the Midway: “The Longest Beard in the World” (Death Valley Days, 1956)

We’ll be exploring other films and videos that use the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition as a setting in our “Filming the Fair” series. Check out other WCE videos in the Zoopraxiscope Hall section of our website. Have you heard of “The Longest Beard in the World” concession on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition? This fictional attraction plays a part in an episode of the long-running television series Death Valley Days. “The Longest Beard in the [...]

By Scott|2018-07-06T07:33:16-05:00July 28th, 2018|Categories: VIDEO|Tags: “Filming the Fair”, Grover Cleveland, Midway Plaisance, suffragettes|0 Comments

Opening Day, addendum: Fate of the Key
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Opening Day, addendum: Fate of the Key

OPENING DAY

Opening Day, addendum: Fate of the Key

Fate of the Key This addendum concludes 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. “Electric Button” stereoscope card photograph. [Image (colorized) from the New York Public Library Digital Archive.] An advertisement for Kirk’s American Family Soap, showing Director-General Davis, the Duke of Veragua, and President Grover Cleveland (and possibly the arm of Mayor Harrison?) [...]

By Scott|2018-05-04T16:28:41-05:00May 5th, 2018|Categories: OPENING DAY|Tags: Electricity Building, golden key, Grover Cleveland, May 1|0 Comments