Echoes of the White City Part 2: “A Midway in Miniature”
For two weeks in November of 1894, an ersatz Midway Plaisance sprang to life inside of the Battery D Armory and Second Regiment Armory buildings in downtown Chicago.
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – Egyptian Swordsmen (p. 87)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 87 – EGYPTIAN SWORDSMEN EGYPTIAN SWORDSMEN.— Among the attractions of a Street in Cairo were a number of swordsmen, some of them very expert in their profession. Their weapons were not of the style in use among Europeans and Americans, but resembled Japanese swords somewhat and had no guard above the hand grip. The blades were not, however, used much in a defensive way, that being left to the [...]
THE LADY OF THE LAKE by Julian Hawthorne Part III: Curiosities of the Midway Plaisance
Author Julian Hawthorne visited the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Reprinted below is the third part of Julian Hawthorne’s “The Lady of the Lake” about his June visit to the fairgrounds and published in the August 1893 issue of Lippincott’s Magazine. The previous installments can be found in Part I and Part II. [NOTE: By today’s standards, some of Hawthorne’s remarks about the Midway Plaisance and citizens of the international villages sound racist. It was not uncommon for commentators [...]
Chicago Magazine Recalls the “Indecent Undulations” on the Midway Plaisance
A photograph of "Egyptian Dancing Girls" from Picturesque World’s Fair shows more modest attire than is often described for the "belly dancer" show on the Midway. The February 2019 issue of Chicago Magazine offers a historical survey of baring skin in the Windy City. “Unbuttoning Chicago’s History of Covering Up” opens with the 1893 World’s Fair, summarizing how the “belly dancers” in the Street in Cairo exhibit on the Midway Plaisance shocked some viewers, raised ire of the [...]
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR – The Algerian Theatre (p. 72)
PICTURESQUE WORLD’S FAIR. AN ELABORATE COLLECTION OF COLORED VIEWS Page 72 – THE ALGERIAN THEATER THE ALGERIAN THEATRE.—The Algerian and Tunisian Village, in which the theatre was the chief attraction, was situated near the center of the Midway Plaisance and adjoining the Street in Cairo. The frontage, as may be seen in the illustration, was not remarkably pretentious, but the main building inside had a Moorish dome with towers and minarets, and its exterior was covered with the rich-hued [...]
Yerkes Observatory Faces Uncertain Future
Perched on a hilltop above Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, stands a magnificent structure having two significant connections to the 1893 World’s Fair. After more than 120 years of operation, this important legacy of the Columbian Exposition faces an uncertain future. Architect Henry Ives Cobb. (Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. (Graphic Co., 1894).] Henry Ives Cobb, born on August 18, 1859, in Brookline, Massachusetts, had become one of Chicago's most distinguished architects by the time of the [...]
Opening Day, Part 2: Presidential Procession to the Fairgrounds
Presidential Procession to the Fairgrounds This is Part 2 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. Finely decorated with flags and bunting The Auditorium Building, where the Duke of Vergua stayed. [Image from the Rijksmueum, Amsterdam.] On the morning of Opening Day of the 1893 World’s Fair, the center of attraction in downtown Chicago [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]