“The crush was terrible”: A firsthand account of Opening Day at the 1893 World’s Fair

A correspondent to the Russell Record in Russell County, Kansas, offered this account of Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Despite having a rather unpleasant time adrift in the “Surging Sea of Humanity” assembled in Jackson Park for the ceremony, and despite the World’s Fair being far from complete in early May, this Kansan advised that “No one, who can conveniently see it, should fail to do so.” Thousands and thousands of people collected on the grounds [...]

By |2024-05-01T06:11:39-05:00May 1st, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |0 Comments
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Opening Day at the 1893 World’s Fair

“The Electric Button” [Image (colorized) from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, May 18, 1893.] Opening Day at the World's Columbian Exposition, May 1, 1893, brought “the greatest crowd Chicago has ever seen or probably ever will witness” into Jackson Park. The tally of total visitors inside the fairground, was close to 400,000, with 242,000 people buying tickets at the gate and another 150,000 arriving with pre-purchased souvenir tickets. The event may have been the greatest crowd Chicago had ever seen, [...]

By |2020-05-01T16:14:13-05:00May 1st, 2020|Categories: HISTORY, Uncategorized|Tags: |0 Comments
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Season’s Readings: World’s Columbian Exposition Books from 2019

2019 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.

By |2022-04-15T09:06:05-05:00December 11th, 2019|Categories: FICTION, NEWS, PRODUCTS, RESEARCH|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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“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 |2023-12-20T13:47:10-06:00October 30th, 2019|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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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 |2019-07-30T13:02:14-05:00August 2nd, 2019|Categories: NEWS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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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 |2022-03-05T10:33:42-06:00September 2nd, 2018|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment
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The Most Wonderful Achievement the World Has Ever Seen

This article from the May 6, 1893, issue of Engineering and Mining News espouses the glory and shortfallings of the Columbian Exposition, which had recently opened in Chicago. View of north lagoon, Art Palace and state buildings, photography by William Henry Jackson. [Image from the Ball State University digital media repository.] The World’s Columbian Fair, which was opened at Chicago, May 1st, is already, in its buildings and promises to be in its exhibits, the most wonderful achievement [...]

By |2018-05-20T09:34:00-05:00May 21st, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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Opening Day, Part 1: Morning on the Fairgrounds

Morning on the Fairgrounds This is Part 1 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. The day of days dawned with gray skies. Jupiter Pluvius, giver of rain, held an uplifted threatening fist over Chicago this morning. Throughout the city, bunting hung to celebrate the opening of the World’s Fair sagged, damp and listless. A [...]

By |2018-04-26T06:17:33-05:00April 22nd, 2018|Categories: OPENING DAY|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments
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Opening Day, Introduction: Chicago’s Day of Days

Chicago’s Day of Days May 1, 1893 "Opening of the World's Fair" [Image from the Library of Congress.] The day of days had arrived in Chicago. After winning the bid to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, months of searching to select Jackson Park as the site of the fairgrounds, the death of the lead architect, two years of constructing a White City on the shores of Lake Michigan, damaging winter storms, delays and setbacks, and a Dedication Day [...]

By |2018-04-21T06:50:59-05:00April 21st, 2018|Categories: OPENING DAY|Tags: , , , |1 Comment
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Grover Cleveland’s Columbian Exposition Keepsake

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 [...]

By |2018-03-18T09:42:58-05:00March 20th, 2018|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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