An Irish Serenade for President Cleveland

Continuing our celebration this week of both St. Patrick’s Day and the anniversary of President Grover Cleveland’s birth, we present this annotated report from the May 2, 1893, edition of the San Sabo (TX) News. The article describes how a group of Irish women from the Midway serenaded President Cleveland as he departed Chicago after the Opening Ceremony of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. _________________________________________________________________________ OFF TO WASHINGTON Photograph of Grover Cleveland. [Image from Dedicatory and Opening Ceremonies [...]

By Scott|2018-03-18T10:19:10-05:00March 19th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Grover Cleveland’s Big Impression on the Midway

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Stephen Grover Cleveland on March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey. The second inauguration of Grover Cleveland as the 24th President of the United States was held on March 4, 1893, less than two months before the opening of the World’s Fair in Chicago on May 1. Having previously served as the 22nd president, Cleveland is the only U.S. president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Egyptian Temple Reproduction showing the [...]

By Scott|2018-03-16T17:07:37-05:00March 18th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Lady Aberdeen on Ireland at the 1893 World’s Fair

"Types of the Fair" [Adapted from a drawing in Current Literature June 1893.] Ishbel Maria Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, became viceregal consort of Canada in 1893 when her husband John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon (Lord Aberdeen) was appointed governor general. She was the former viceroy of Ireland and founder of the Irish Industries Association. In her essay about Ireland, published in the July 1893 issue of the North American Review, Lady Aberdeen sets out to describe the contributions of [...]

By Scott|2018-03-16T17:04:12-05:00March 17th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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Souvenir Music from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893

March, waltz, polka, and hoochie koochie your way back to the 1893 World’s Fair with Souvenir Music from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, a new recording of vintage sheet music from Lake Forest College Press. Donald C. Meyer, Professor of Music at Lake Forest College, has assembled a fascinating collection of 18 pieces of music written for or about the Columbian Exposition. A trio of musicians (pianist Chris White, violinist Kate Carter, and baritone Brad Jungwirth) perform the [...]

By Scott|2023-10-20T21:25:15-05:00February 24th, 2018|Categories: AUDIO, NEWS, PRODUCTS|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |2 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Egyptian Dancing Girls (p. 34)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWSPage 34 – EGYPTIAN DANCING GIRLSEGYPTIAN DANCING GIRLS.—That prominent feature of the Midway Plaisance, a Street in Cairo, had a theatre among its attractions, and what doubtless drew most visitors to this place of entertainment, was the performance of the Egyptian Dancing Girls. The illustration gives excellent portraits of the three dusky beauties who were most prominent there, and shows also the semi-Oriental costume in which they danced. Of the performance it [...]

By Randy|2018-03-11T14:36:21-05:00February 20th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment
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Site of the World’s Columbian Exposition

The piece below, from the first issue of The World’s Columbian Exposition Illustrated (Vol. 1 No. 1, February 1891) and likely written by editor James B. Campbell, offers an enthusiastic description of the locations that Chicago had recently selected to host the 1893 World’s Fair. The editorial boosterism belies much of the bitter fighting that went into reaching the decision to use Jackson Park as the main fairgrounds. At the time of this publication in early 1891, plans to [...]

By Scott|2021-05-16T11:25:52-05:00February 18th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , , |2 Comments
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Happy National Ferris Wheel Day!

Up 'n' down Ferris wheel Tell me how does it feel To be so high Looking down here. -- Norah Jones "Carnival Town" Grab a box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses, because today is ... National Ferris Wheel Day! This annual celebration honors the anniversary of George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.’s birth on February 14, 1859, in Galesburg, Illinois. Ferris, of course, was the engineer who invented the biggest attraction of the 1893 World’s Fair. More than 1.4 [...]

By Scott|2018-03-11T10:14:17-05:00February 14th, 2018|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Interior of “Old Vienna” (p. 31)

Page 31 INTERIOR OF “OLD VIENNA."— From: PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS INTERIOR OF “OLD VIENNA."—To leave the Exposition without having visited the Austrian Village, more widely known as "Old Vienna," was, in the opinion of many people, not to have seen the Fair at all. It was one of the most popular places of resort for the multitude, despite the expensiveness of the luxury, for prices in Old Vienna were "World's Fair prices" indeed. There was [...]

By Randy|2019-11-11T20:30:00-06:00February 11th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Interior of the Javanese Theater (p. 30)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 30 INTERIOR OF THE JAVANESE THEATER.—Not a remarkable histrionic production was any play performed in the Javanese Theatre, but it was interesting, as was anything connected with these gentle people. Centrally in the quaint village was a structure, somewhat larger than the others, made of bamboo, thatched in the native style and illuminated at night. From this building emanated the sound of instruments strange to an American ear, deep-toned [...]

By Randy|2019-11-16T19:31:05-06:00February 6th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , |1 Comment
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Chicago Tribune remembers the Midway Plaisance

Donkey Boys in the Streets of Cairo "Former President Barack Obama’s proposed parking garage wouldn’t have been the first oddball structure built on Chicago’s Midway Plaisance." writes Ron Grossman in the Chicago Tribune, referring to the now scuttled plans to build a parking lot for the Obama Presidential Center on the east end of the Midway. Grossman has dug through the Tribune's archive to excavate some interesting news stories from 1893 about the Midway, including "The donkey boys of [...]

By Scott|2022-04-29T18:38:16-05:00January 29th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
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Updates on the Obama Presidential Center plans for Jackson Park

January brought a flurry of planning activity for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) along with heavy gusts of protest against the proposed development in Jackson Park. Both those favoring and those opposing the OPC proposal looked back to the 1893 World's Fair and invoked Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for the park after the Columbian Exposition to support their position. On January 8, the Obama Foundation released new design plans for OPC space on the west side of the lagoon. The [...]

By Scott|2021-05-05T14:21:30-05:00January 28th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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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: , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Is Chicago about to ruin Jackson Park? asks the Cultural Landscape Foundation

"Is Chicago about to ruin Jackson Park?" asks Charles A. Birnbaum, President & CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation in an opinion piece published this week in The Huffington Post. Birnbaum highlights several major projects affecting the park that in 1893 was home to the Columbian Exposition. Plans for the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) locate it on the west side of Jackson Park lagoon (approximately where the Woman's Building and Horticultural Building once stood), and an associated parking facility will sit on [...]

By Scott|2018-01-04T19:37:01-06:00January 4th, 2018|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , , , , , |1 Comment
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PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS (pp. 15-16)

PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 15 A VIEW IN MIDWAY PLAISANCE.—A city in itself was the Midway, picturesque certainly, and educational as well, however meretricious some of its droll features. It was the playground of the multitude and they learned much while they ate, drank, stared and were merry. The view above presented is from a point about the center of the west half of the Plaisance and a little west of the Ferris [...]

By Randy|2025-01-25T22:25:05-06:00December 26th, 2017|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments
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See the Midway, German Building, and Palace of Fine Arts on Film

The Chicago Tribune has posted a video mash-up of Chicago aerial scenes, pairing vintage film footage—shot in 1914 from a dirigible flying over the city—with modern video of the same locations. The German Building (looking south) Of particular interest to fans of the 1893 World’s Fair are scenes of the Midway Plaisance (shown at 3:45 minutes in the video) followed by a fly-over of the 58th Street Beach (at 4:15), where during the fair were the Great [...]

By Scott|2024-02-04T08:48:46-06:00November 13th, 2017|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Get Your (So-Called) Orange Cider

You’ve just taken the thrill ride of your life—ascending 264 feet into the air on a giant rotating wheel of iron, viewing the expansive fairgrounds of the Columbian Exposition from a perspective intended only for birds, and gently returning to terra firma in a car filled with scores of other passengers. You need a drink. Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair walking along the Midway may have spotted a little beverage stand tucked underneath the east side of the [...]

By Randy|2022-10-15T17:52:50-05:00November 12th, 2017|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: , , , , , , , , |2 Comments
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