Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building Archives

The biggest building in the world was at the 1893 Columbian Exposition
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The biggest building in the world was at the 1893 Columbian Exposition

REPRINTS

The biggest building in the world was at the 1893 Columbian Exposition

How big was the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building at the 1893 World’s Fair? The MLAB was the largest building in the world and the largest roofed building that had ever erected at that time. The south front of the Manufactures Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. At 787 feet wide, this is the shorter end of the mammoth structure. [Image from Picturesque World’s Fair (W.B. Conkey, 1894); digitally edited and © worldsfairchicago1893.com.] At 1687 feet long by [...]

By Scott|2025-03-27T11:06:11-05:00March 28th, 2025|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building|0 Comments

Maps of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in the Library of Congress
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Maps of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in the Library of Congress

NEWS

Maps of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in the Library of Congress

Maps of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds offer a fascinating look at the evolving design of the Jackson Park campus and of the continuous changes during the run of the Fair. The Library of Congress holds many interesting specimens of World’s Fair cartography in the collection of the Geography and Map Division. Cynthia Smith’s blog post “Chicago in 1893: Selected Maps of the World’s Columbian Exposition” (December 4, 2024) highlights several maps and exhibit hall floorplans from the [...]

By Scott|2024-12-30T08:31:42-06:00December 14th, 2024|Categories: NEWS|Tags: Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, map|0 Comments

164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South
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164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South

REPRINTS

164. Picturesque World’s Fair – The North Canal – Looking South

THE NORTH CANAL—LOOKING SOUTH —From a point near the west approach to the bridge connecting the Electricity and Manufactures Buildings a view was afforded southward down the South Canal, which had many interesting features. The always thronged bridge between the plaza in front of the Administration Building and the south front of the Manufactures cuts off, it is true, a portion of the view but adds in itself an interesting feature. The photograph from which the illustrations were made [...]

By Randy|2024-05-12T09:49:55-05:00May 12th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Administration Building, Agricultural Building, colonnade, Electricity Building, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Obelisk, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Rostral Columns, South Canal|0 Comments

Seeing the Solar Eclipse of 1893 at the World’s Fair
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Seeing the Solar Eclipse of 1893 at the World’s Fair

HISTORY

Seeing the Solar Eclipse of 1893 at the World’s Fair

Did you see it? Viewers on April 8, 2024, snapped countless millions of photographs of the solar eclipse. For the total solar eclipse of April 16, 1893—visible in South America and Africa—only a handful of photographs were taken. At least one made it into a display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. A photograph of the April 1893 solar eclipse, exhibited in the California State Building at the 1893 World's Fair. [Image from Bancroft, Hubert Howe [...]

By Scott|2024-04-08T08:34:28-05:00April 8th, 2024|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: California State Building, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building|0 Comments

163. Picturesque World’s Fair – The German Porcelain Display
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163. Picturesque World’s Fair – The German Porcelain Display

REPRINTS

163. Picturesque World’s Fair – The German Porcelain Display

THE GERMAN PORCELAIN DISPLAY.—What proved one of the greatest attractions to art lovers who visited the German section in the Manufactures Building was the wonder-ful porcelain display. No collection of just the same character and quality had ever before been seen in the United States, nor, indeed, elsewhere, and a delighted throng was con-stantly examining this portion of Germany's fine exhibit. The illustration affords a good idea of the general style of arrangement, something devised by the most famous [...]

By Randy|2024-04-08T06:35:14-05:00April 8th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: German exhibit, Germany, Glory of Germania, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Porcelain Porch|0 Comments

The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 1: “Behold my grandeur!”
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The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 1: “Behold my grandeur!”

REPRINTS

The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 1: “Behold my grandeur!”

Continued from Introduction THE FAIR AS A SPECTACLE. How it seemed to a visitor—Strolling and dreaming by day and by night. By Charles Mulford Robinson Part 1: “Behold my grandeur!” As a loving word rings in the heart when the voice that breathed it is still, as a beautiful face dwells in Memory’s kingdom after years have flown, and a noble deed still lives though its occasion be passed, so the beauty of the Fair, written anew in thousands [...]

By Scott|2023-07-03T06:44:38-05:00June 30th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Charles Mulford Robinson, clock tower, Columbus Quadriga, Court of Honor, Grand Basin, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Peristyle, Statue of the Republic|2 Comments

The Making of the White City (Part 2)
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The Making of the White City (Part 2)

REPRINTS

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 [...]

145. Picturesque World’s Fair – West Main Entrance of the Manufactures Building
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145. Picturesque World’s Fair – West Main Entrance of the Manufactures Building

REPRINTS

145. Picturesque World’s Fair – West Main Entrance of the Manufactures Building

WEST MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.—Columbia Avenue, the great thoroughfare which extended north and south through the Manufactures Building, was crossed at the center by a similar broad way, and. this interior street where it terminated at the west afforded exit upon a particularly beautiful scene. Across the North Canal and at the entrance to the East Lagoon a bridge extended, over which passed and repassed the throng between the Manufactures and the group of large structures west [...]

By Randy|2022-11-13T09:03:45-06:00November 13th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: colonnade, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Obelisk, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Wooded Island|0 Comments

Seizing Russian Assets at the 1893 World’s Fair
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Seizing Russian Assets at the 1893 World’s Fair

HISTORY

Seizing Russian Assets at the 1893 World’s Fair

Arriving unannounced and dressed in civilian clothing, United States government officials attempted to seize Russian assets in Chicago. In retaliation of the invasion, the Russians abruptly withdrew from a major international alliance. The year was 1893. The World’s Columbian Exposition was a trade show on a colossal scale. Foreign countries and businesses sent to the World's Fair in Chicago an enormous quantity of goods to display in the great halls of the White City. Though ostensibly exhibits, many of [...]

By Scott|2022-03-12T07:08:10-06:00March 12th, 2022|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: George R. Davis, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, Russia|1 Comment

130. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fire-Works July 4th from the roof of the Manufactures Building
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130. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fire-Works July 4th from the roof of the Manufactures Building

REPRINTS

130. Picturesque World’s Fair – Fire-Works July 4th from the roof of the Manufactures Building

FIRE-WORKS JULY 4th FROM THE ROOF OF THE MANUFACTURES BUILDING.--A view of just such quality as was never had before and may not be had again for a long time was gained by those of the World's Fair visitors who witnessed a fire-works display from such vantage ground as the roof of the Manufactures Building afforded. Upon that great area in mid-air a host of people could be assembled and, on the warm summer nights, thousands improved the opportunity [...]

By Randy|2021-11-25T15:48:41-06:00November 25th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: fireworks, Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR|0 Comments