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 |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 |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 |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 |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 |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 |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 |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 |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 |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 |2018-03-11T14:39:47-05:00December 26th, 2017|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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