Street in Cairo Archives - Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair

Ignacy Paderewski Battles the Midway Camel
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Ignacy Paderewski Battles the Midway Camel

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Ignacy Paderewski Battles the Midway Camel

Twenty-two-year-old Ignacy Jan Paderewski (November 18, 1860 – June 29, 1941) was already a rock star when he performed a concert for the opening of the 1893 World’s Fair. The Polish pianist’s adoring fans—enchanted as much by his luxuriant red locks as by his charismatic keyboard performance—succumbed to “Paddymania.” His distinguishing coiffure made Paderewski a common subject of caricatures and cartoons. One example places him back at the World’s Columbian Exposition, where one denizen of the Midway Plaisance was [...]

By Scott|2024-11-05T10:07:15-06:00November 18th, 2024|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Ignacy Paderewski, Street in Cairo|0 Comments

25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair
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25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

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25 Impressions of the 1893 World’s Fair

Toward the close of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, The Critic invited twenty-five notable scholars, writers, and leaders of the day to offer their brief impressions of the World’s Fair. At such a monumental event with so many novelties … what impressed them the most? It is interesting how frequently these contributors sing the same notes as they rhapsodize about the fairgrounds at night and the illumination of the Court of Honor, praise (except for Henry Fuller!) [...]

157. Picturesque World’s Fair – Camel and Driver in Cairo Street
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157. Picturesque World’s Fair – Camel and Driver in Cairo Street

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157. Picturesque World’s Fair – Camel and Driver in Cairo Street

CAMEL AND DRIVER IN CAIRO STREET.—The Cairo Street camels had varied duties to perform, at one time being hurried along with much mauling and gesticulation to convey a rider, or perhaps a couple, from one end of the street to the other and unload them hurriedly to make room for other experimenting people, and again, bedecked with cumbrous trappings, led along the same boisterous thoroughfare to take part in some procession alleged to be a duplicate of what may [...]

By Randy|2023-10-17T05:30:04-05:00October 17th, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: camels, Midway Plaisance, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Street in Cairo|0 Comments

The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 3: An Enormous Whirligig of Pleasure
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The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 3: An Enormous Whirligig of Pleasure

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The Fair as a Spectacle, Part 3: An Enormous Whirligig of Pleasure

Continued from Part 2 [Note: This text includes names and descriptions now considered culturally disparaging. Please see our statement on “Potentially Offensive Text and Images.”] THE FAIR AS A SPECTACLE. How it seemed to a visitor—Strolling and dreaming by day and by night. By Charles Mulford Robinson Part 3: An Enormous Whirligig of Pleasure The entrance to the Plaisance was directly beyond this building. Serious purposed womanhood, as personified by the structure, stood before the Plaisance, blocking the way [...]

By Scott|2023-07-03T06:41:30-05:00July 2nd, 2023|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Austrian Village (Old Vienna), Charles Mulford Robinson, Midway Plaisance, Street in Cairo, Woman's Building|3 Comments

“A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” by A. B. Ward
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“A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” by A. B. Ward

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“A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” by A. B. Ward

The short story reprinted below is a romance set on the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair. Writing as “A. B. Ward,” Mrs. Alice Ward Bailey (1857–1922) was a prolific author of fiction around the turn of the twentieth century. The mawkish prose and bumpy pacing in this story may explain why the author is essentially forgotten today. Still, her dramatic sketch offers an intimate peek into the lives of fictional inhabitants of the Midway and invites us [...]

By Scott|2022-10-07T08:01:02-05:00October 7th, 2022|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Captive Balloon, Street in Cairo, Temple of Luxor|0 Comments

109. Picturesque World’s Fair – Athletic Pastimes in A Street In Cairo
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109. Picturesque World’s Fair – Athletic Pastimes in A Street In Cairo

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109. Picturesque World’s Fair – Athletic Pastimes in A Street In Cairo

ATHLETIC PASTIMES IN A STREET IN CAIRO.— They were unquestionably a merry lot who made up the resident population of a Street in Cairo, so full of animal spirits as to often engage in their pastimes, even when there were no visitors in attendance. Naturally, among such people, with such lives as theirs had been, physical prowess was held in high esteem, and the hero of a combat with lance or scimiter was in their eyes a greater man [...]

By Randy|2020-12-06T08:39:19-06:00December 6th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: Midway Plaisance, PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR, Street in Cairo|0 Comments

“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 3: Cairo Street
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“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 3: Cairo Street

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“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 3: Cairo Street

Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 2 A long stretch of high stone wall above which clearly outlined against the blue of the summer sky, is seen a confused medly [sic] of queer tiled roofs, glimpses of latticed and casement windows, and above all a tall minaret, the turban like top holding up star and crescent. We pay the magic twenty-five cents and step into a curving narrow street, lined with [...]

By Scott|2022-10-03T09:07:52-05:00November 4th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: "Belly Dancer", camels, Little Egypt, Midway Plaisance, Street in Cairo|0 Comments

103. Picturesque World’s Fair – Soloman Joseph and Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Aye
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103. Picturesque World’s Fair – Soloman Joseph and Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Aye

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103. Picturesque World’s Fair – Soloman Joseph and Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Aye

SOLOMON JOSEPH AND TA-RA-RA BOOM-DE-AYE.—As a group of uncompromisingly rapacious and mannerless patronage-seekers the donkey boys of a Street in Cairo were probably never surpassed, and of these Solomon Joseph was admittedly the chief brigand. He was noisy, persistent and altogether intolerable in soliciting people to ride upon his dwarfish beasts, and was always grinning and good-natured. Of the two, the donkey shown in the picture had probably the greater number of lovable qualities, though even " Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-aye," [...]