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The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a
world's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
held in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
's arrival in the
New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage Columbus took to the New World. Chicago had won the right to host the fair over several other cities, including
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. The exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on American
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago's image. The layout of the Chicago Columbian Exposition was, in large part, designed by
John Wellborn Root John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891) was an American architect who was based in Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style. Two of his buildings have been designated a National ...
,
Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
,
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co-d ...
and Charles B. Atwood. It was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be. It was designed to follow Beaux-Arts principles of design, namely
neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...
principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendor. The color of the material generally used to cover the buildings' façades (white
staff Staff may refer to: Pole * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling), a token authorizing a locomotive driver to use a particula ...
) gave the fairgrounds its nickname, the White City. Many prominent architects designed its 14 "great buildings". Artists and musicians were featured in exhibits and many also made depictions and works of art inspired by the exposition. The exposition covered , featuring nearly 200 new (but deliberately temporary) buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture,
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...
s and
lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...
s, and people and cultures from 46 countries. More than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. Its scale and grandeur far exceeded the other world's fairs, and it became a symbol of the emerging
American Exceptionalism American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is inherently different from other nations.the Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...
became a symbol of the
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...
United Kingdom. Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not actually opened to the public until May 1, 1893. The fair continued until October 30, 1893. In addition to recognizing the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World by Europeans, the fair also served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the
Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 1 ...
, which had destroyed much of the city in 1871. On October 9, 1893, the day designated as Chicago Day, the fair set a world record for outdoor event attendance, drawing 751,026 people. The debt for the fair was soon paid off with a check for $1.5 million (equivalent to $ in ). Chicago has commemorated the fair with one of the stars on its municipal flag.


History


Planning and organization

Many prominent civic, professional, and commercial leaders from around the United States participated in the financing, coordination, and management of the Fair, including Chicago shoe company owner Charles H. Schwab, Chicago railroad and manufacturing magnate
John Whitfield Bunn :''This article concerns John Whitfield Bunn, Jacob Bunn, and the entrepreneurs who were interconnected with the Bunn brothers through association or familial and genealogical connection.'' John Whitfield Bunn (June 21, 1831 – June 7, 1920)Ill ...
, and Connecticut banking, insurance, and iron products magnate Milo Barnum Richardson, among many others. The fair was planned in the early 1890s during the
Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and We ...
of rapid industrial growth, immigration, and class tension. World's fairs, such as London's 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition, had been successful in Europe as a way to bring together societies fragmented along class lines. The first American attempt at a world's fair in Philadelphia in 1876 drew crowds, but was a financial failure. Nonetheless, ideas about distinguishing the 400th anniversary of Columbus' landing started in the late 1880s. Civic leaders in St. Louis, New York City, Washington DC, and Chicago expressed interest in hosting a fair to generate profits, boost real estate values, and promote their cities. Congress was called on to decide the location. New York financiers J. P. Morgan,
Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
, and William Waldorf Astor, among others, pledged $15 million to finance the fair if Congress awarded it to New York, while Chicagoans Charles T. Yerkes,
Marshall Field Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of quality and custome ...
,
Philip Armour Philip Danforth Armour Sr. (16 May 1832 – 6 January 1901) was an American meatpacking industrialist who founded the Chicago-based firm of Armour & Company. Born on an upstate New York farm, he made $8,000 in the California gold rush, 1852 ...
,
Gustavus Swift Gustavus Franklin Swift, Sr. (June 24, 1839 – March 29, 1903) was an American business executive. He founded a meat-packing empire in the Midwest during the late 19th century, over which he presided until his death. He is credited with t ...
, and
Cyrus McCormick, Jr. Cyrus Hall McCormick Jr. (May 16, 1859 – June 2, 1936) was an American businessman. He was president of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company from 1884 to 1902. Life and career McCormick was the eldest child of inventor Cyrus Hall McCormic ...
, offered to finance a Chicago fair. What finally persuaded Congress was Chicago banker
Lyman Gage Lyman Judson Gage (June 28, 1836 – January 26, 1927) was an American financier and Presidential Cabinet officer. Biography Early life He was born in DeRuyter, New York, educated at an academy in Rome, New York, and at the age of 17 bec ...
, who raised several million additional dollars in a 24-hour period, over and above New York's final offer. Chicago representatives not only fought for the world's fair for monetary reasons, but also for reasons of practicality. In a Senate hearing held in January 1890, representative
Thomas Barbour Bryan Thomas Barbour Bryan (December 22, 1828 – January 26, 1906) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. Born in Virginia, a member of the prestigious Barbour family on his mother's side, Bryan largely made a name for himself in Chic ...
argued that the most important qualities for a world's fair were “abundant supplies of good air and pure water,...ample space, accommodations and transportation for all exhibits and visitors...." He argued that New York had too many obstructions, and Chicago would be able to use large amounts of land around the city where there was "not a house to buy and not a rock to blast...." and that it would be so located that "the artisan and the farmer and the shopkeeper and the man of humble means" would be able to access the fair easily. Bryan continued to say that the fair was of “vital interest” to the West, and that the West wanted the location to be Chicago. The city spokesmen would continue to stress the essentials of a successful Exposition and that only Chicago was fit to fill these exposition requirements. The location of the fair was decided through several rounds of voting by the United States House of Representatives. The first ballot showed Chicago with a large lead over New York, St. Louis, and Washington, DC, but short of a majority. Chicago broke the 154-vote majority threshold on the eighth ballot, receiving 157 votes to New York's 107. The exposition corporation and national exposition commission settled on Jackson Park and an area around it as the fair site.
Daniel H. Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
was selected as director of works, and George R. Davis as director-general. Burnham emphasized architecture and sculpture as central to the fair and assembled the period's top talent to design the buildings and grounds including
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co-d ...
for the grounds. The temporary buildings were designed in an ornate Neoclassical style and painted white, resulting in the fair site being referred to as the "White City". The Exposition's offices set up shop in the upper floors of the Rand McNally Building on Adams Street, the world's first all-steel-framed skyscraper. Davis's team organized the exhibits with the help of G. Brown Goode of the Smithsonian. The Midway was inspired by the
1889 Paris Universal Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The ...
, which included ethnological "villages.” Civil rights leaders protested the refusal to include an African-American exhibit.
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he becam ...
, Ida B. Wells, Irvine Garland Penn, and Ferdinand Lee Barnet co-authored a pamphlet entitled "The Reason Why the Colored American is not in the World's Columbian Exposition – The Afro-American's Contribution to Columbian Literature" addressing the issue. The exhibition included a number of exhibits put on by black individuals and approved by white organizers of the fair, including exhibits by the sculptor
Edmonia Lewis Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as "Wildfire" (c. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907), was an American sculptor, of mixed African-American and Native American (Mississauga Ojibwe) heritage. Born free in Upstate New York, she worked for most o ...
, a painting exhibit by scientist George Washington Carver, and a statistical exhibit by
Joan Imogen Howard Joan Imogen Howard (7 November 1848, Boston – 8 November 1937, Philadelphia)1937 Philadelphia death certificate was an American educator and principal from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Characterized as a "black liberal integrationist", she w ...
. It also included blacks in white exhibits, such as
Nancy Green Nancy Green (March 4, 1834 – August 30, 1923) was an American former enslaved woman, nanny, cook, activist, and the first of many African-American models and performers hired to promote a corporate trademark as "Aunt Jemima". The famous Aunt J ...
's portrayal of the character
Aunt Jemima Pearl Milling Company (formerly known as Aunt Jemima from 1889 to 2021) is an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix for the brand was developed in 1888–18 ...
for the R. T. Davis Milling Company.


Operation

The fair opened in May and ran through October 30, 1893. Forty-six nations participated in the fair (it was the first world's fair to have national pavilions), constructing exhibits and pavilions and naming national "delegates" (for example, Haiti selected
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he becam ...
to be its delegate). The Exposition drew over 27 million visitors. The fair was originally meant to be closed on Sundays, but the
Chicago Woman's Club The Chicago Woman's Club was formed in 1876 by women in Chicago who were interested in "self and social improvement." The club was notable for creating educational opportunities in the Chicago region and helped create the first juvenile court in th ...
petitioned that it stay open. The club felt that if the exposition was closed on Sunday, it would restrict those who could not take off work during the work-week from seeing it. The exposition was located in Jackson Park and on the
Midway Plaisance The Midway Plaisance, known locally as the Midway, is a public park on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its west end and Jackson Par ...
on in the neighborhoods of South Shore, Jackson Park Highlands, Hyde Park, and Woodlawn.
Charles H. Wacker Charles Henry Wacker (August 29, 1856 – October 31, 1929), born in Chicago, Illinois, was a German American businessman and philanthropist. He was Vice Chairman of the General Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and in 1909 was a ...
was the director of the fair. The layout of the fairgrounds was created by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Beaux-Arts architecture of the buildings was under the direction of Daniel Burnham, Director of Works for the fair. Renowned local architect
Henry Ives Cobb Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) was an architect from the United States. Based in Chicago in the last decades of the 19th century, he was known for his designs in the Richardsonian Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles ...
designed several buildings for the exposition. The director of the American Academy in Rome, Francis Davis Millet, directed the painted mural decorations. Indeed, it was a coming-of-age for the arts and architecture of the "
American Renaissance The American Renaissance was a period of American architecture and the arts from 1876 to 1917, characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance h ...
," and it showcased the burgeoning neoclassical and Beaux-Arts styles.


Assassination of mayor and end of fair

The fair ended with the city in shock, as popular mayor Carter Harrison, Sr. was assassinated by
Patrick Eugene Prendergast Patrick Eugene Joseph Prendergast (6 April 1868 – 13 July 1894) was an Irish-born American newspaper distributor who assassinated Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., fatally shooting the five-term mayor on October 28, 1893. Following two s ...
two days before the fair's closing. Closing ceremonies were canceled in favor of a public memorial service. Jackson Park was returned to its status as a public park, in much better shape than its original swampy form. The lagoon was reshaped to give it a more natural appearance, except for the straight-line northern end where it still laps up against the steps on the south side of the Palace of Fine Arts/Museum of Science & Industry building. The
Midway Plaisance The Midway Plaisance, known locally as the Midway, is a public park on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its west end and Jackson Par ...
, a park-like boulevard which extends west from Jackson Park, once formed the southern boundary of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
, which was being built as the fair was closing (the university has since developed south of the Midway). The university's football team, the Maroons, were the original "
Monsters of the Midway The Monsters of the Midway is most widely known as the nickname for the National Football League's Chicago Bears—particularly the dominant teams of 1940 and 1941. The name was revived when the 1985 Chicago Bears proved to be similarly dominant, ...
." The exposition is mentioned in the university's alma mater: "The City White hath fled the earth,/But where the azure waters lie,/A nobler city hath its birth,/The City Gray that ne'er shall die."


Attractions

The World's Columbian Exposition was the first world's fair with an area for amusements that was strictly separated from the exhibition halls. This area, developed by a young music promoter, Sol Bloom, concentrated on
Midway Plaisance The Midway Plaisance, known locally as the Midway, is a public park on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its west end and Jackson Par ...
and introduced the term "midway" to American English to describe the area of a carnival or fair where
sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten s ...
s are located. It included carnival rides, among them the original
Ferris Wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...
, built by
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. (February 14, 1859 – November 22, 1896) was an American civil engineer. He is mostly known for creating the original Ferris Wheel (1893), Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. Early ...
This wheel was high and had 36 cars, each of which could accommodate 40 people. The importance of the Columbian Exposition is highlighted by the use of ' ("Chicago wheel") in many Latin American countries such as Costa Rica and Chile in reference to the
Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...
. One attendee, George C. Tilyou, later credited the sights he saw on the Chicago midway for inspiring him to create America's first major amusement park,
Steeplechase Park Steeplechase Park was a amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Steeplechase Park was created by entrepreneur George C. Tilyou in 1897 and operated until 1964. It was the first of the three large amusement parks built on Con ...
in
Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to th ...
, New York. The fair included life-size reproductions of Christopher Columbus' three ships, the '' Niña'' (real name ''Santa Clara''), the '' Pinta'', and the '' Santa María''. These were intended to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas. The ships, a joint project of the governments of Spain and the United States, were constructed in Spain and then sailed to America for the exposition. The ships were a very popular exhibit.
Eadweard Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the firs ...
gave a series of lectures on the Science of Animal Locomotion in the Zoopraxographical Hall, built specially for that purpose on Midway Plaisance. He used his
zoopraxiscope The zoopraxiscope (initially named ''zoographiscope'' and ''zoogyroscope'') is an early device for displaying moving images and is considered an important predecessor of the movie projector. It was conceived by photographic pioneer Eadweard Mu ...
to show his moving pictures to a paying public. The hall was the first commercial movie theater. The "Street in Cairo" included the popular dancer known as Little Egypt. She introduced America to the suggestive version of the
belly dance Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
known as the "
hootchy-kootchy Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
," to a tune said to have been improvised by Sol Bloom (and now more commonly associated with snake charmers) which he had composed when his dancers had no music to dance to. Bloom did not copyright the song, putting it immediately in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
. Also included was the first
moving walkway A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distan ...
or travelator, which was designed by architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. It had two different divisions: one where passengers were seated, and one where riders could stand or walk. It ran in a loop down the length of a lakefront pier to a casino. Although denied a spot at the fair,
Buffalo Bill Cody William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
decided to come to Chicago anyway, setting up his ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'' just outside the edge of the exposition. Nearby, historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave academic lectures reflecting on the end of the frontier which Buffalo Bill represented. The
electrotachyscope The Elektrischen Schnellseher (literally "Electrical Quick-Viewer") or Electrotachyscope was an early motion picture system developed by chronophotographer Ottomar Anschütz between 1886 and 1894. He made at least seven different versions of the ...
of Ottomar Anschütz was demonstrated, which used a
Geissler tube A Geissler tube is an early gas discharge tube used to demonstrate the principles of electrical glow discharge, similar to modern neon lighting. The tube was invented by the German physicist and glassblower Heinrich Geissler in 1857. It co ...
to project the
illusion An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people. Illusions may ...
of moving images.
Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
made his reputation with a stunning chapel designed and built for the Exposition. After the Exposition the Tiffany Chapel was sold several times, even going back to Tiffany's estate. It was eventually reconstructed and restored and in 1999 it was installed at the
Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, a museum noted for its ''art nouveau'' collection, houses the most comprehensive collection of the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany found anywhere, a major collection of American art pottery, and f ...
. Architect Kirtland Cutter's Idaho Building, a rustic log construction, was a popular favorite, visited by an estimated 18 million people. The building's design and interior furnishings were a major precursor of the Arts and Crafts movement. Among the other attractions at the fair, several products that are well-known today were introduced. These products included Juicy Fruit Gum, Cream of Wheat, Cracker Jacks, Shredded Wheat Cereal, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, among many others.


Anthropology

There was an Anthropology Building at the World's Fair. Nearby, "The Cliff Dwellers" featured a rock and timber structure that was painted to recreate
Battle Rock Mountain A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
in Colorado, a stylized recreation of an American Indian cliff dwelling with pottery, weapons, and other relics on display.Joseph M. Di Cola & David Stone (2012
Chicago's 1893 World's Fair
page 21
There was also an
Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related thi ...
display. There were also birch bark
wigwam A wigwam, wickiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam (Ojibwe, in syllabics: ) is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term ''wickiup' ...
s of the
Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...
tribe. Nearby was a working model Indian school, organized by the Office of Indian Affairs, that housed delegations of Native American students and their teachers from schools around the country for weeks at a time.


Rail

The ''
John Bull John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...
'' locomotive was displayed. It was only 62 years old, having been built in 1831. It was the first locomotive acquisition by the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. The locomotive ran under its own power from
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, to Chicago to participate, and returned to Washington under its own power again when the exposition closed. In 1981 it was the oldest surviving operable
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...
in the world when it ran under its own power again. A
Baldwin Baldwin is a Germanic name, composed of the elements ''bald'' "bold" and ''win'' "friend". People * Baldwin (name) Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, Qu ...
2-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The type is somet ...
locomotive was showcased at the exposition, and subsequently the type was known as the ''Columbia''. An original
frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...
switch and portion of the superstructure of the famous 1826 Granite Railway in Massachusetts could be viewed. This was the first commercial railroad in the United States to evolve into a
common carrier A common carrier in common law countries (corresponding to a public carrier in some civil law systems,Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000 "Civil-law public carrier" from "carriage of goods" usually called simply a ''carrier'') is a person or company ...
without an intervening closure. The railway brought granite stones from a rock quarry in
Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...
, so that the
Bunker Hill Monument The Bunker Hill Monument is a monument erected at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, which was among the first major battles between the Red Coats and Patriots in the American Revolutionary War. The 221-foot (67 m) gran ...
could be erected in Boston. The frog switch is now on public view in East Milton Square, Massachusetts, on the original
right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
of the Granite Railway. Transportation by rail was the major mode of transportation. A 26 track train station was built at the South West corner of the fair. While trains from around the country would unload there, there was a local train to shuttle tourists from the Chicago Grand Central Station to the fair.


Country and state exhibition buildings

Forty-six countries had pavilions at the exposition.
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
participated by sending the ''
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...
'', a replica of the Gokstad ship. It was built in Norway and sailed across the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
by 12 men, led by Captain Magnus Andersen. In 1919 this ship was moved to
Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...
. It was relocated in 1996 to Good Templar Park in
Geneva, Illinois Geneva is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the western side of the Chicago suburbs. Per the 2020 census, the population was 21,393. Geneva is part of a tri-city area, located between S ...
, where it awaits renovation. Thirty-four U.S. states also had their own pavilions. The work of noted feminist author Kate McPhelim Cleary was featured during the opening of the Nebraska Day ceremonies at the fair, which included a reading of her poem "Nebraska". Among the state buildings present at the fair were California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas; each was meant to be architecturally representative of the corresponding states. Four United States territories also had pavilions located in one building:
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...
,
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...
, Oklahoma, and
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
. Visitors to the Louisiana Pavilion were each given a seedling of a cypress tree. This resulted in the spread of cypress trees to areas where they were not native. Cypress trees from those seedlings can be found in many areas of West Virginia, where they flourish in the climate. The ''Illinois'' was a detailed, full-scale mockup of an ''Indiana''-class battleship, constructed as a naval exhibit.


Guns and artillery

The German firm
Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...
had a pavilion of artillery, which apparently had cost one million dollars to stage, including a coastal gun of 42 cm in bore (16.54 inches) and a length of 33 calibres (45.93 feet, 14 meters). A breech-loaded gun, it weighed 120.46 long tons (122.4 metric tons). According to the company's marketing: "It carried a charge projectile weighing from 2,200 to 2,500 pounds which, when driven by 900 pounds of brown powder, was claimed to be able to penetrate at 2,200 yards a wrought-iron plate three feet thick if placed at right angles." Nicknamed "The Thunderer", the gun had an advertised range of 15 miles; on this occasion
John Schofield John McAllister Schofield (September 29, 1831 – March 4, 1906) was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He was appointed U.S. Secretary of War (1868–1869) under President Andrew Johnson and later served ...
declared Krupps' guns "the greatest peacemakers in the world". This gun was later seen as a precursor of the company's World War I
Dicke Berta The 42-centimetre 14 L/12 (short naval cannon), or ''Minenwerfer-Gerät'' (M-Gerät), popularly known by the nickname Big Bertha, was a German siege howitzer built by Krupp AG in Essen, Germany and fielded by the Imperial German Army from 19 ...
howitzers.


Religions

The 1893
Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...
, which ran from September 11 to September 27, marked the first formal gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions from around the world. According to Eric J. Sharpe, Tomoko Masuzawa, and others, the event was considered radical at the time, since it allowed non-Christian faiths to speak on their own behalf. For example, it is recognized as the first public mention of the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...
in North America.; it was not taken seriously by European scholars until the 1960s.


Moving walkway

Along the banks of the lake, patrons on the way to the casino were taken on a
moving walkway A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distan ...
designed by architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee, the first of its kind open to the public, called ''The Great Wharf, Moving Sidewalk'', it allowed people to walk along or ride in seats.


Horticulture

Horticultural exhibits at the Horticultural Hall included
cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...
and
orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
s as well as other plants in a
greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These ...
.


Architecture


White City

Most of the buildings of the fair were designed in the
neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...
style. The area at the Court of Honor was known as The White City. Façades were made not of stone, but of a mixture of plaster, cement, and jute fiber called
staff Staff may refer to: Pole * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling), a token authorizing a locomotive driver to use a particula ...
, which was painted white, giving the buildings their "gleam.” Architecture critics derided the structures as "decorated sheds.” The buildings were clad in white
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
, which, in comparison to the
tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
s of Chicago, seemed illuminated. It was also called the White City because of the extensive use of street lights, which made the boulevards and buildings usable at night. In 1892, working under extremely tight deadlines to complete construction, director of works Daniel Burnham appointed Francis Davis Millet to replace the fair's official director of color-design, William Pretyman. Pretyman had resigned following a dispute with Burnham. After experimenting, Millet settled on a mix of oil and white lead
whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used. ...
that could be applied using compressed air
spray paint Aerosol paint (commonly spray paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unlike ...
ing to the buildings, taking considerably less time than traditional brush painting. Joseph Binks, maintenance supervisor at Chicago's
Marshall Field's Wholesale Store Marshall Field's Wholesale Store, Chicago, Illinois, sometimes referred to as the Marshall Field's Warehouse Store, was a landmark seven-story building designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. Intended for the wholesale business of Field's eponymousl ...
, who had been using this method to apply whitewash to the subbasement walls of the store, got the job to paint the Exposition buildings. Claims this was the first use of spray painting may be apocryphal since journals from that time note this form of painting had already been in use in the railroad industry from the early 1880s. Many of the buildings included sculptural details and, to meet the Exposition's opening deadline, chief architect Burnham sought the help of
Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
instructor
Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for deca ...
to help complete them. Taft's efforts included employing a group of talented women sculptors from the Institute known as "the White Rabbits" to finish some of the buildings, getting their name from Burnham's comment "Hire anyone, even white rabbits if they'll do the work." The words "Thine alabaster cities gleam" from the song "
America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never ...
" were inspired by the White City.


White City controversy

According to
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
history professor Gail Bederman, White City sparked considerable controversy. In her 1995 text ''Manliness and Civilization'', she writes, "The White City, with its vision of future perfection and of the advanced racial power of manly commerce and technology, constructed civilization as an ideal of white male power." According to Bederman, people of color were barred entirely from participating in the organization of the White City and were instead given access only to the Midway exhibit, "which specialized in spectacles of barbarous races - 'authentic' villages of Samoans, Egyptians, Dahomans, Turks, and other exotic peoples, populated by actual imported 'natives.'" Two small exhibits were included in the White City's "Woman's Building" which addressed women of color. One, entitled "Afro-American" was installed in a distant corner of the building. The other, called "Woman's Work in Savagery," included baskets, weavings, and African, Polynesian, and Native American arts. Though they were produced by living women of color, the materials were represented as relics from the distant past, embodying "the work of white women's own distant evolutionary foremothers." In response to these failings, civil rights leaders Ida B. Wells,
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he becam ...
, Irvine Garland Penn, and Ferdinand Lee Barnet wrote and circulated a pamphlet at the exposition titled
The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition
', which argued the exposition organizers had deliberately excluded African Americans from the White City in order "to shame the Negro." By only allowing Black people to be featured in "Midway," Wells and Douglass argued, "the Dahomians are also here to exhibit the Negro as a repulsive savage." Ten thousand copies of the pamphlet were circulated in the White City from the Haitian Embassy (where Douglass had been selected as its national representative), and the activists received responses from the delegations of England, Germany, France, Russia, and India.


Role in the City Beautiful Movement

The White City is largely credited for ushering in the
City Beautiful movement The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...
and planting the seeds of modern city planning. The highly integrated design of the landscapes, promenades, and structures provided a vision of what is possible when planners, landscape architects, and architects work together on a comprehensive design scheme. The White City inspired cities to focus on the beautification of the components of the city in which municipal government had control; streets, municipal art, public buildings, and public spaces. The designs of the City Beautiful Movement (closely tied with the municipal art movement) are identifiable by their classical architecture, plan symmetry, picturesque views, and axial plans, as well as their magnificent scale. Where the municipal art movement focused on beautifying one feature in a city, the City Beautiful movement began to make improvements on the scale of the district. The White City of the World's Columbian Exposition inspired the
Merchants Club The Merchants Club was a predecessor club to The Commercial Club of Chicago. It was organized in Chicago in 1896. It merged with the Commercial Club in 190Its leaders included Charles G. Dawes, Frederic A. Delano, and Charles H. Wacker. It was ...
of Chicago to commission
Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
to create the Plan of Chicago in 1909.


Great buildings

There were fourteen main "great buildings" centered around a giant reflective pool called the Grand Basin. Buildings included: * The Administration Building, designed by
Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa ...
* The Agricultural Building, designed by Charles McKim of
McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), ...
* The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, designed by
George B. Post George Browne Post (December 15, 1837 – November 28, 1913) was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition. He was recognized as a master of modern American architecture as well as being instrumental in the birth of the skyscra ...
. If this building were standing today, it would rank second in volume (8,500,000m3) and third in footprint (130,000m2) on list of largest buildings. It exhibited works related to literature, science, art and music. * The Mines and Mining Building, designed by
Solon Spencer Beman Solon Spencer Beman (October 1, 1853 – April 23, 1914) was an American architect based in Chicago, Illinois and best known as the architect of the planned Pullman community and adjacent Pullman Company factory complex, as well as Chicago's r ...
* The Electricity Building, designed by
Henry Van Brunt Henry Van Brunt FAIA (September 5, 1832 – April 8, 1903) was a 19th-century American architect and architectural writer. Life and work Van Brunt was born in Boston in 1832 to Gershom Jacques Van Brunt and Elizabeth Price Bradlee. Van Brunt ...
and Frank Maynard Howe * The Machinery Hall, designed by Robert Swain Peabody of Peabody and Stearns * The Woman's Building, designed by
Sophia Hayden Sophia Hayden (October 17, 1868 – February 3, 1953) was an American architect and first female graduate of the four-year program in architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Life Early life Sophia Gregoria Hayden was bor ...
* The Transportation Building, designed by
Adler & Sullivan Adler & Sullivan was an architectural firm founded by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in Chicago. Among its projects was the multi-purpose Auditorium Building in Chicago and the Wainwright Building skyscraper in St Louis. In 1883 Louis Sullivan w ...
* The Fisheries Building designed by
Henry Ives Cobb Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) was an architect from the United States. Based in Chicago in the last decades of the 19th century, he was known for his designs in the Richardsonian Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles ...
* Forestry Building designed by Charles B. Atwood * Horticultural Building designed by Jenney and Mundie * Anthropology Building designed by Charles B. Atwood


Transportation Building

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...
's polychrome proto-Modern Transportation Building was an outstanding exception to the prevailing style, as he tried to develop an organic American form. Years later, in 1922, he wrote that the classical style of the White City had set back modern American architecture by forty years. As detailed in Erik Larson's popular history '' The Devil in the White City'', extraordinary effort was required to accomplish the exposition, and much of it was unfinished on opening day. The famous
Ferris Wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...
, which proved to be a major attendance draw and helped save the fair from bankruptcy, was not finished until June, because of waffling by the board of directors the previous year on whether to build it. Frequent debates and disagreements among the developers of the fair added many delays. The spurning of
Buffalo Bill William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years ...
's Wild West Show proved a serious financial mistake. Buffalo Bill set up his highly popular show next door to the fair and brought in a great deal of revenue that he did not have to share with the developers. Nonetheless, construction and operation of the fair proved to be a windfall for Chicago workers during the serious economic recession that was sweeping the country.


Surviving structures

File:1893 Nina Pinta Santa Maria replicas.jpg, alt=Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria replicas., '' Pinta'', '' Santa María'', and '' Niña'' replicas from Spain. File:Viking, replica of the Gokstad Viking ship, at the Chicago World Fair 1893.jpg, alt=Viking, replica of the Gokstad Viking ship., The ''
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...
'', a replica of the Gokstad ship. File:Chicago expo White City fire.jpg, alt=White City fire, After the fair, the White City on fire.
Almost all of the fair's structures were designed to be temporary; of the more than 200 buildings erected for the fair, the only two which still stand in place are the
Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...
and the World's Congress Auxiliary Building. From the time the fair closed until 1920, the Palace of Fine Arts housed the Field Columbian Museum (now the
Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
, since relocated); in 1933 (having been completely rebuilt in permanent materials), the Palace building re-opened as the Museum of Science and Industry. The second building, the World's Congress Building, was one of the few buildings not built in Jackson Park, instead it was built downtown in Grant Park. The cost of construction of the World's Congress Building was shared with the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
, which, as planned, moved into the building (the museum's current home) after the close of the fair. The three other significant buildings that survived the fair represented Norway, the Netherlands, and the State of Maine. The
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
Building was a recreation of a traditional wooden
stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ...
. After the Fair it was relocated to Lake Geneva, and in 1935 was moved to a museum called Little Norway in
Blue Mounds, Wisconsin Blue Mounds is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 948. The village is adjacent to the Town of Blue Mounds, and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Blue Mo ...
. In 2015 it was dismantled and shipped back to Norway, where it was restored and reassembled. The second is the Maine State Building, designed by Charles Sumner Frost, which was purchased by the Ricker family of Poland Spring, Maine. They moved the building to their resort to serve as a library and art gallery. The Poland Spring Preservation Society now owns the building, which was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
in 1974. The third is The Dutch House, which was moved to
Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and ...
. The 1893 Viking ship that was sailed to the Exposition from Norway by Captain Magnus Andersen, is located in
Geneva, Illinois Geneva is a city in and the county seat of Kane County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the western side of the Chicago suburbs. Per the 2020 census, the population was 21,393. Geneva is part of a tri-city area, located between S ...
. The ship is open to visitors on scheduled days April through October. The main altar at
St. John Cantius in Chicago Saint John Cantius Church ( pl, Kościół Świętego Jana Kantego) is a historic Catholic church of the Archdiocese of Chicago known for its architecture, liturgical practices, and affiliation with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. With mo ...
, as well as its matching two side altars, are reputed to be from the Columbian Exposition. Since many of the other buildings at the fair were intended to be temporary, they were removed after the fair. The White City so impressed visitors (at least before air pollution began to darken the façades) that plans were considered to refinish the exteriors in marble or some other material. These plans were abandoned in July 1894, when much of the fair grounds was destroyed in a fire.


Gallery

File:Chi-fair-13-20080924.jpg, The Administration Building and Grand Court during the October 9, 1893, commemoration of the 22nd anniversary of the Chicago Fire. File:Chicago expo Manufactures bldg.jpg, The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, seen from the southwest. File:Chicago expo Horticultural bldg.jpg, Horticultural Building, with Illinois Building in the background. File:Chicago expo Machinery Hall.jpg, A view toward the Peristyle from Machinery Hall. File:Chicago expo Midway Plaisance.jpg, Midway Plaisance File:The World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, 1893 (1893) (14593740420).jpg,
Frederick MacMonnies Frederick William MacMonnies (September 28, 1863 – March 22, 1937) was the best known expatriate American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school, as successful and lauded in France as he was in the United States. He was also a highly accomplishe ...
' Columbian Fountain. File:columex.jpg, "Canal of Venice" during Chicago World's Fair 1893


Criticism

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
later wrote that "By this overwhelming rise of grandomania I was confirmed in my fear that a native architecture would be set back at least fifty years.


Visitors

Helen Keller, along with her mentor
Anne Sullivan Anne Sullivan Macy (born as Johanna Mansfield Sullivan; April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936) was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller.Herrmann, Dorothy. ''Helen Keller: A Life'', Alfred ...
and Dr.
Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and T ...
, visited the fair in summer of 1893. Keller described the fair in her autobiography ''
The Story of My Life The Story of My Life or Story of My Life may refer to: Literature * ''The Story of My Life'' (biography), a 1903 autobiography by Helen Keller * ''Story of My Life'' (novel), 1988 novel by Jay McInerney * ''Histoire de ma vie'' (''Story of my l ...
''. Early in July, a
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficia ...
English teacher named
Katharine Lee Bates Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 – March 28, 1929) was an American author and poet, chiefly remembered for her anthem "America the Beautiful", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker. Bat ...
visited the fair. The White City later inspired the reference to "alabaster cities" in her poem and lyrics "
America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey. The two never ...
". The exposition was extensively reported by Chicago publisher William D. Boyce's reporters and artists. There is a very detailed and vivid description of all facets of this fair by the Persian traveler
Mirza Mohammad Ali Mo'in ol-Saltaneh Mirza may refer to: * Mirza, Kamrup, town in Assam, India * Mirza (name), historical royal title & noble * ''Mirza'', the genus of giant mouse lemur * "Mirza", song by Nino Ferrer * ''Mirza – The Untold Story'', Punjabi action romance film wri ...
written in Persian. He departed from
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...
on April 20, 1892, especially for the purpose of visiting the World's Columbian Exposition.
Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; ...
visited the fair with his friends
Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Life Paul Bourget was born in Amiens in the Somme ''département'' of Picar ...
and Samuel Jean de Pozzi. He devotes the first chapter of his book " Souvenirs d'Amérique et de Grèce " (1897) to the visit.
Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
visited the fair to attend the
Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...
and delivered his famous speech "Sisters and Brothers of America!". Kubota Beisen was an official delegate of Japan. As an artist, he sketched hundreds of scenes, some of which were later used to make woodblock print books about the Exhibition. Serial killer
H. H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer, the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Until his execution in 1896, he ...
attended the fair with two of his eventual victims, Annie and Minnie Williams.


Souvenirs

Examples of exposition souvenirs can be found in various American museum collections. One example, copyrighted in 1892 by John W. Green, is a folding hand fan with detailed illustrations of landscapes and architecture. Charles W Goldsmith produced a set of ten postcard designs, each in full colour, showing the buildings constructed for the exhibition. Columbian Exposition coins were also minted for the event.


Electricity

The effort to power the Fair with electricity, which became a demonstration piece for Westinghouse Electric and the
alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in which ...
system they had been developing for many years, took place at the end of what has been called the
War of the currents The war of the currents was a series of events surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems in the late 1880s and early 1890s. It grew out of two lighting systems developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s; arc l ...
between DC and AC. Westinghouse initially did not put in a bid to power the Fair but agreed to be the contractor for a local Chicago company that put in a low bid of US$510,000 to supply an alternating current based system.Richard Moran (2007) ''Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair'', Knopf Doubleday, page 97 Edison General Electric, which at the time was merging with the
Thomson-Houston Electric Company The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was a manufacturing company which was one of the precursors of the General Electric company. History The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was formed in 1882 in the United States when a group of Lynn, Massa ...
to form
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
, put in a US$1.72 million bid to power the Fair and its planned 93,000 incandescent lamps with
direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...
. After the Fair committee went over both proposals, Edison General Electric re-bid their costs at $554,000 but Westinghouse under bid them by 70 cents per lamp to get the contract.Quentin R. Skrabec, ''George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius'', pages 135-137 Westinghouse could not use the Edison incandescent lamp since the patent belonged to General Electric and they had successfully sued to stop use of all patent infringing designs. Since Edison specified a sealed globe of glass in his design Westinghouse found a way to sidestep the Edison patent by quickly developing a lamp with a ground glass stopper in one end, based on a Sawyer-Man "stopper" lamp patent they already had. The lamps worked well but were short lived, requiring a small army of workmen to constantly replace them. Westinghouse Electric had severely underbid the contract and struggled to supply all the equipment specified including twelve 1,000 horsepower single phase AC generators and all the lighting and other equipment required. They also had to fend off a last minute lawsuit by General Electric claiming the Westinghouse Sawyer-Man based stopper lamp infringed on the Edison incandescent lamp patent. The International Exposition was held in an Electricity Building which was devoted to electrical exhibits. A statue of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a m ...
was displayed at the entrance. The exposition featured interior and exterior light and displays as well as displays of
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...
's
kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that woul ...
, search lights, a
seismograph A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The output ...
, electric incubators for chicken eggs, and
Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
. All the exhibits were from commercial enterprises. Participants included General Electric, Brush,
Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
, and Westinghouse. The Westinghouse Company displayed several
polyphase system A polyphase system is a means of distributing alternating-current (AC) electrical power where the power transfer is constant during each electrical cycle. AC phase refers to the phase offset value (in degrees) between AC in multiple conducti ...
s. The exhibits included a switchboard, polyphase generators, step-up
transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
s, transmission line, step-down transformers, commercial size
induction motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding. An induction motor ...
s and
synchronous motor A synchronous electric motor is an AC electric motor in which, at steady state, the rotation of the shaft is synchronized with the frequency of the supply current; the rotation period is exactly equal to an integral number of AC cycles. Sync ...
s, and rotary direct current converters (including an operational railway motor). The working scaled system allowed the public a view of a system of polyphase power which could be transmitted over long distances, and be utilized, including the supply of direct current. Meters and other auxiliary devices were also present. Part of the space occupied by the Westinghouse Company was devoted to demonstrations of electrical devices developed by
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
'' induction motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding. An induction motor ...
s and the generators used to power the system. The
rotating magnetic field A rotating magnetic field is the resultant magnetic field produced by a system of coils symmetrically placed and supplied with polyphase currents. A rotating magnetic field can be produced by a poly-phase (two or more phases) current or by a singl ...
that drove these motors was explained through a series of demonstrations including an '' Egg of Columbus'' that used the two-phase coil in the induction motors to spin a copper egg making it stand on end. Tesla himself showed up for a week in August to attend the
International Electrical Congress The International Electrical Congress was a series of international meetings, from 1881 - 1904, in the then new field of applied electricity. The first meeting was initiated by the French government, including official national representatives, lead ...
, being held at the fair's Agriculture Hall, and put on a series of demonstrations of his wireless lighting system in a specially set up darkened room at the Westinghouse exhibit. These included demonstrations he had previously performed throughout America and Europe including using a nearby coil to light a wireless
gas-discharge lamp Gas-discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources that generate light by sending an electric discharge through an ionized gas, a plasma. Typically, such lamps use a noble gas (argon, neon, krypton, and xenon) or a mixture of the ...
held in his hand. Also at the Fair, the Chicago Athletic Association Football team played one of the first night football games against
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
(the earliest being on September 28, 1892, between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary). Chicago won the game 14–0. The game lasted only 40 minutes, compared to the normal 90 minutes.


Music


Musicians

*
John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to di ...
′s Band played for the Exposition dedication celebration in Chicago, 10 October through 21 October 1892. * Joseph Douglass, classical violinist, who achieved wide recognition after his performance there and became the first African-American violinist to conduct a transcontinental tour and the first to tour as a concert violinist. *
Sissieretta Jones Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (January 5, 1868 or 1869 – June 24, 1933) was an American soprano. She sometimes was called "The Black Patti" in reference to Italian opera singer Adelina Patti. Jones' repertoire included grand opera, light o ...
, a soprano known as "the Black Patti" and an already-famous opera singer. * A paper on African-American spirituals and shouts by Abigail Christensen was read to attendees. There were many other black artists at the fair, ranging from
minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer w ...
and early ragtime groups to more formal classical ensembles to street buskers. *
Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one r ...
, pianist, from Texarkana, Texas; became widely known for his piano playing at the fair.


Other music and musicians

* The first
Indonesian music As it is a country with many different tribes and ethnic groups, the music of Indonesia ( id, Musik Indonesia) itself is also very diverse, coming in hundreds of different forms and styles. Every region have its own culture and art, and as a r ...
performance in the United States was at the exposition. The
gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. ...
instruments used in the performance were later placed in the Field Museum of Natural History. * A group of
hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song ( mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visua ...
dancers led to increased awareness of
Hawaiian music The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part ...
among Americans throughout the country. * Stoughton Musical Society, the oldest choral society in the United States, presented the first concerts of early American music at the exposition. * The first
eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
(a Welsh choral competition with a history spanning many centuries) held outside Wales was held in Chicago at the exposition. * A 250-voice
Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...
competed in the Eisteddfod taking the second place prize of $1000. This was the first appearance of the Choir outside the
Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th sta ...
. * August 12, 1893 –
Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist exampl ...
conducted a gala "Bohemian Day" concert at the exposition, besieged by visitors including the conductor of the
Chicago Symphony The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...
, who arranged for performance of Dvořák's '' American'' string quartet, just completed in Spillville, Iowa, during a Dvořák family vacation in a Czech-speaking community there. * American composer
Amy Beach Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in ...
(1867–1944) was commissioned by the Board of Lady Managers of the fair to compose a choral work (Festival Jubilate, op. 17) for the opening of the Woman's Building. *Sousa's Band played concerts in the south bandstand on the Great Plaza, 25 May to 28 June 1893. *The University of Illinois Military Band conducted by student leaders Charles Elder and Richard Sharpe played concerts twice daily in the Illinois Building 9 June to 24 June 1893. Soloists were William Sandford, euphonium; Charles Elder, clarinet; William Steele, cornet. The band members slept on cots on the top floor of the building. *8 June 1893 — The Exposition Orchestra, an expanded version of the
Chicago Symphony The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...
conducted by guest conductor Vojtěch I. Hlaváč, played the American premiere of
Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
's '' A Night on Bald Mountain'' as part of a concert of Russian folk music. *A pipe organ containing over 3,900 pipes, one of the largest in the world at the time, was built by the Farrand & Votey Organ Company to the specifications of Chicago organist Clarence Eddy. It was one of the first great organs to rely on electrical connections from its keys to its pipes. *Musicologist Anna Morsch and composer Charlotte Sporleder presented a program of German music. *Composer and pianist Anita Socola Specht won the title “best amateur pianist in the United States,” although some of the judges told her, “You are not an amateur, you are an artist!”


Art


American artists exhibiting


Painters

* Adam Emory Albright * Henry Alexander * Maitland Armstrong * William Jacob Baer *
William Bliss Baker William Bliss Baker (November 27, 1859 – November 20, 1886) was an American artist who began painting just as the Hudson River School was winding down. Baker began his studies in 1876 at the National Academy of Design, where he studied with ...
*
Cecilia Beaux Eliza Cecilia Beaux (May 1, 1855 – September 17, 1942) was an American society portraitist, whose subjects included First Lady Edith Roosevelt, Admiral Sir David Beatty and Georges Clemenceau. Trained in Philadelphia, she went on to study in ...
* James Carroll Beckwith *
Enella Benedict Enella Benedict (December 21, 1858 – April 6, 1942) was an American realism and landscape painter. She taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was a founder and director for nearly 50 years for the Art School at the Hull Hous ...
* Frank Weston Benson *
Daniel Folger Bigelow Daniel Folger Bigelow (July 22, 1823 - July 14, 1910) was an American painter active in New England and Chicago. History Bigelow was born on a farm in Peru, New York and began painting at an early age. An early influence was Asahel Lynde Powe ...
*
Ralph Albert Blakelock Ralph Albert Blakelock (October 15, 1847 – August 9, 1919) was a romanticist American painter known primarily for his landscape paintings related to the Tonalism movement. Biography Ralph Blakelock was born in New York City on October 15, 18 ...
*
Edwin Howland Blashfield Edwin Howland Blashfield (December 5, 1848October 12, 1936) was an American painter and muralist, most known for painting the murals on the dome of the Library of Congress Main Reading Room in Washington, DC. Biography Blashfield was born in ...
*
Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar D ...
* Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson *
Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...
*Charles Morgan McIlhenney * Gari Melchers *
Anna Lea Merritt Anna Massey Lea Merritt (September 13, 1844 – April 7, 1930) was an American artist from Philadelphia who lived and worked in Great Britain for most of her life. A printmaker and painter of portraits, landscapes, and religious scenes, Merri ...
*John Harrison Mills * Robert Crannell Minor * Louis Moeller *
Harry Humphrey Moore Harry Humphrey Moore (21 July 1844, New York City - 2 January 1926, Paris) was an American painter; best known for his works depicting Japan, Spain and North Africa. Biography His father, Capt. George Humphrey Moore, was a shipbuilder and a des ...
*
Edward Moran Edward Moran (August 19, 1829June 8, 1901) was an English-born American artist of maritime paintings. He is arguably most famous for his series of 13 historical paintings of United States marine history. Early life Moran was born to Thomas and M ...
*
John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and mor ...


Sculptors

* Sarah Fisher Ames, sculptor * John J. Boyle sculptor *
Cyrus Edwin Dallin Cyrus Edwin Dallin (November 22, 1861 – November 14, 1944) was an American sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans. He created more than 260 works, including the ''Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere'' in Boston, Massac ...
, sculptor – '' Signal of Peace'' * Charles Grafly – ''Bust of Daedalus'' * Mary Lawrence, sculptor *
Edward Kemeys Edward Kemeys (January 31, 1843 – May 11, 1907) was an American sculptor and considered America's first animalier. He is best known for his sculptures of animals, particularly the two bronze lions that mark the entrance to the Art Institute ...
* Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (as Theo Alice Ruggles) *
Aloys Loeher Aloys Loeher (1850–1904) was an American sculptor. He created a signature piece which was exhibited at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Among his other works are the Siegfried Monument in New York, the Fritz Reuter Monument in Chicago, and a num ...
* Carol Brooks MacNeil (as Caroline Brooks) *
Helen Farnsworth Mears Helen Farnsworth Mears (; December 21, 1872 – February 17, 1916) was an American sculptor. Early years Mears was born December 21, 1872, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, daughter of John Hall Mears and Elizabeth Farnsworth Mears (pen names "Nellie Wildw ...
* Samuel Murray – ''Bust of Walt Whitman'' * William Rudolf O'Donovan – ''Bust of Thomas Eakins'' * Bessie Potter *
Peter Moran Peter Antony Moran (born 13 April 1935) is the former Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Aberdeen, Scotland. Early life Moran was born in Glasgow. After early schooling in Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire, he spent nine years in ...
*George D. Peterson * Preston Powers * Katherine Prescott * A. Phimister Proctor * John Rogers *
Carl Rohl-Smith Carl Wilhelm Daniel Rohl-SmithCarr, p. 375. (April 3, 1848- August 20, 1900) was a Danish American sculptor who was active in Europe and the United States from 1870 to 1900. He sculpted a number of life-size and small bronzes based on Greco-Roma ...
Carr, Carolyn Kinder, et al., ''Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair'', National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1993 *
Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for deca ...
*
Douglas Tilden Douglas Tilden (May 1, 1860 to August 5, 1935) was an American sculptor. He was deaf from a bout of scarlet fever at the age of four and attended the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley, California (now in Fremont, California).  H ...
* Luella Varney


Japanese art

Japan's artistic contribution was mainly in
porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...
,
cloisonné Cloisonné () is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstone ...
enamel, metalwork and embroidery. While 55 paintings and 24 sculptures came from Japan, 271 of the 290 exhibits in the Palace of Fine Arts were Japanese. Artists represented included Miyagawa Kozan, Yabu Meizan,
Namikawa Sōsuke Namikawa Sōsuke (1847–1910) was a Japanese '' cloisonné'' artist, known for innovations that developed ''cloisonné'' enamel into an artistic medium sharing many features with paintings. He and Namikawa Yasuyuki (no relation)Despite their ide ...
, and Suzuki Chokichi.


Women artists exhibiting

The women artists at the Woman's Building included Anna Lownes, Viennese painter
Rosa Schweninger Rosa Schweninger (1849–1918) was an Austrian painter. She was a member of a Viennese family of artists, which included her father, , and her brother, Carl Schweninger the Younger. She studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna with Fred ...
, and many others. American composer
Amy Cheney Beach Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in ...
was commissioned by the Board of Lady Managers of the fair to compose a choral work (Festival Jubilate, op. 17) for the opening of the Woman's Building. Women inventions, such as the Mrs Potts sad-iron system was on display.
Ami Mali Hicks Ami Mali Hicks (1867–1954) was an American feminist, writer, and organizer. She wrote books on art instruction and criticism. Hicks was a longtime administrator for Free Acres, an independent, collectivized community in New Jersey. She worked ...
' stencil design was selected to adorn the
frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
in the assembly room of the Women's Building. Musicologist Anna Morsch and composer Charlotte Sporleder presented a program of German music. The Woman's Building included a Woman's Building Library Exhibit, which had 7,000 books — all by women. The Woman's Building Library was meant to show the cumulative contribution of the world's women to literature.


"Greatest Refrigerator on Earth" fire tragedy

In the large 255' X 130' Romanesque structure standing almost 200' tall at its highest point, housing both the cold storage for keeping perishables for the food services at the event, and an ice-skating rink for patrons at the level above the cold storage, and referred to as the "Greatest Refrigerator on Earth"; underdeveloped safety standards where high-temperature heat sources from machinery is believed to have ignited wooden structure in the building interior, causing the massive fire that caused the deaths of 12 firemen and 4 workers.


Notable firsts


Concepts

* Frederick Jackson Turner lectured on his Frontier thesis. * The
Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. The first version, with a text different from the one used ...
was first performed at the exposition by a mass of school children lined up in military fashion. * Contribution to Chicago's nickname, the " Windy City". Some argue that
Charles Anderson Dana Charles Anderson Dana (August 8, 1819 – October 17, 1897) was an American journalist, author, and senior government official. He was a top aide to Horace Greeley as the managing editor of the powerful Republican newspaper ''New-York Tribune' ...
of the ''
New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...
'' coined the term related to the hype of the city's promoters. Other evidence, however, suggests the term was used as early as 1881 in relation to either Chicago's "windbag" politicians or to its weather.


Commemorations

*
United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...
offered its first commemorative coins: the Columbian Exposition quarter dollar and
Columbian Exposition half dollar The Columbian half dollar is a coin issued by the Bureau of the Mint in 1892 and 1893. The first traditional United States commemorative coin, it was issued both to raise funds for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and to mark the quadricent ...
* The
United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...
produced its first picture
postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
s and Commemorative stamp set


Edibles and potables

*
Cream of Wheat Cream of Wheat is an American brand of farina, a type of breakfast porridge mix made from wheat middlings. It looks similar to grits, but is smoother in texture since it is made with ground wheat kernels instead of ground corn. It was first m ...
* The brownie was invented by Bertha Palmer for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. * Milton Hershey bought a European exhibitor's chocolate manufacturing equipment and added chocolate products to his caramel manufacturing business. * Juicy Fruit gum *
Quaker Oats The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Precursor miller companies In the 1850s, Ferdinand Schumacher and Robert Stuart founded oat mills. S ...
* Shredded Wheat *
Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Blue Ribbon, commonly abbreviated PBR, is an American lager beer sold by Pabst Brewing Company, established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1844 and currently based in San Antonio. Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, the cur ...
*
Peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...
*
Aunt Jemima Pearl Milling Company (formerly known as Aunt Jemima from 1889 to 2021) is an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix for the brand was developed in 1888–18 ...
pancake mix was widely popularized by spokesperson
Nancy Green Nancy Green (March 4, 1834 – August 30, 1923) was an American former enslaved woman, nanny, cook, activist, and the first of many African-American models and performers hired to promote a corporate trademark as "Aunt Jemima". The famous Aunt J ...
's pancake cooking and story telling performances. *
Cracker Jack Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food that consists of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn, and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside. The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat The ...
's new recipe was introduced at the Exposition *
Vienna Sausage A Vienna sausage (german: Wiener Würstchen, Wiener; Viennese/Austrian German: ''Frankfurter Würstel'' or ''Würstl''; Swiss German: ''Wienerli''; Swabian: ''Wienerle'' or ''Saitenwurst'') is a thin parboiled sausage traditionally made of po ...
started selling its frankfurters and sausages near one of the entrances to the Midway Plaisance, just outside the Old Vienna Village. The company later became known as Vienna Beef, famously recognized as "Chicago's Hot Dog".


Inventions and manufacturing advances

* A device that made plates for printing books in
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille display ...
, unveiled by
Frank Haven Hall Frank Haven Hall (February 9, 1841 – January 3, 1911) was an American inventor and essayist who is credited with inventing the Hall braille writer and the stereographer machine. He also invented the first successful mechanical point writer and ...
, who met Helen Keller and her teacher
Anne Sullivan Anne Sullivan Macy (born as Johanna Mansfield Sullivan; April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936) was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller.Herrmann, Dorothy. ''Helen Keller: A Life'', Alfred ...
at the exhibit. *
Moving walkway A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distan ...
, or travelator * The
third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
giving electric power to elevated trains led directly to its first continuing US use.''The Chicago "L"'' by Greg Borzo * The "clasp locker," a clumsy slide fastener and forerunner to the
zipper A zipper, zip, fly, or zip fastener, formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding together two edges of fabric or other flexible material. Used in clothing (e.g. jackets and jeans), luggage and other bags, camping ...
was demonstrated by
Whitcomb L. Judson Whitcomb L. Judson (March 7, 1843 – December 7, 1909) was an American machine salesman, mechanical engineer and inventor. He received thirty patents over a sixteen-year career, fourteen of which were on pneumatic street railway innovati ...
*
Elongated coin An elongated coin (also known as a pressed penny or smashed penny) is one that has been flattened or stretched, and embossed with a new design. Such coins are often used as commemorative or souvenir tokens, and it is common to find coin elongati ...
s (the squashed penny) *
Ferris Wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...
* First fully electrical kitchen including an automatic dishwasher * Phosphorescent lamps (a precursor to fluorescent lamps) * John T. Shayne & Company, the local Chicago furrier helped America gain respect on the world stage of manufacturing *
Clark cell The Clark cell, invented by English engineer Josiah Latimer Clark in 1873, is a wet-chemical cell (colloquially: ''battery'') that produces a highly stable voltage. In 1893, the output of the Clark cell at 15 °C was defined by the International ...
as a standard for measuring
volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference ( voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). D ...
age * A first prototype of a pressurized aerosol spray, by Francis Davis Millet. * The first practical
electric automobile An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quie ...
, invented by William Morrison.


Organizations

* Congress of Mathematicians, precursor to
International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...
*
Interfaith dialogue Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...
(the
Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...
) ** First recorded public mention of the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...
in North America


Performances

* The poet and humorist
Benjamin Franklin King, Jr. Benjamin Franklin King Jr. (1857–1894) was an American humorist and poet whose work published under the names Ben King or the pseudonym Bow Hackley achieved notability in his lifetime and afterwards.Biography by Opie Read iBen King's Verses 18 ...
first performed at the exposition. * Bodybuilder
Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, ; 2 April 1867 – 14 October 1925) was a German bodybuilder and showman from Prussia. Born in Königsberg, Sandow became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. After ...
demonstrated feats of strength, promoted by
Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the '' Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He also ...
. * Magician
Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
and his brother
Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...
performed their magic act at the Midway.


Later years

The exposition was one influence leading to the rise of the
City Beautiful movement The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...
. Results included grand buildings and fountains built around Olmstedian parks, shallow pools of water on axis to central buildings, larger park systems, broad boulevards and parkways and, after the start of the 20th century, zoning laws and planned suburbs. Examples of the City Beautiful movement's works include the City of Chicago, the
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
campus, and the
National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...
in Washington D.C. After the fair closed, J.C. Rogers, a banker from
Wamego, Kansas Wamego is a city in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,841. History Wamego was platted in 1866. It was named for a Potawatomi Native American chief. The first post office in ...
, purchased several pieces of art that had hung in the rotunda of the U.S. Government Building. He also purchased architectural elements, artifacts and buildings from the fair. He shipped his purchases to Wamego. Many of the items, including the artwork, were used to decorate his theater, now known as
the Columbian Theatre The Columbian Theatre is a richly historic music hall from the turn of the 20th century located in Wamego, Kansas. Early history This music hall was built in 1893 by J. C. Rogers, a Wamego banker. He had been amazed by the scope and beauty of the ...
. Memorabilia saved by visitors can still be purchased. Numerous books, tokens, published photographs, and well-printed admission tickets can be found. While the higher value commemorative stamps are expensive, the lower ones are quite common. So too are the commemorative half dollars, many of which went into circulation. Although not available for purchase, The
George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...
maintains a small collection of exposition tickets for viewing and research purposes. The collection is currently cared for by GWU's Special Collections Research Center, located in the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library.Guide to the World's Columbian Exposition Ticket Collection, 1893
, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University
When the exposition ended the Ferris Wheel was moved to Chicago's north side, next to an exclusive neighborhood. An unsuccessful Circuit Court action was filed against the owners of the wheel to have it moved. The wheel stayed there until it was moved to St. Louis for the
1904 World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 milli ...
. The Columbian Exposition has celebrated many anniversaries since the fair in 1893. The Chicago Historical Society held an exhibition to commemorate the fair. The Grand Illusions exhibition was centered around the idea that the Columbian Exposition was made up of a series of illusions. The commemorative exhibition contained partial reconstructions, a video detailing the fair, and a catalogue similar to the one sold at the World's Fair of 1893.Harris, N. (1993). Grand Illusions Chicago' World's Fair of 1893. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society.


In popular culture

* The Exposition is portrayed in the 2017 historical film, '' The Current War,'' concerning the competition between
George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age o ...
and
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...
to establish the dominant form of electricity in the United States. * '' 1893: A World's Fair Mystery'', an interactive fiction by Peter Nepstad that recreates the Exposition in detail. * ''
Against the Day ''Against the Day'' is an epic historical novel by Thomas Pynchon, published in 2006. The narrative takes place between the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the time immediately following World War I and features more than a hundred characters spre ...
'', a fictional novel that takes place during the Exposition during the first act. * '' The Devil in the White City'', a non-fiction book intertwining the true tales of the architect behind the Exposition and serial killer
H. H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer, the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Until his execution in 1896, he ...
. * ''Timebound'', a time travel novel by Rysa Walker, culminates at the Exposition. * '' Expo: Magic of the White City'', a 2005 documentary film about the Exposition by
Mark Bussler Mark Bussler (born 1975) is an American filmmaker, entrepreneur, and multi-media artist, who is best known for creating the long-running gaming webseries Classic Game Room. Biography Bussler is the son of software entrepreneur Michael Bussler. ...
. * ''
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth ''Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth'' is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Chris Ware. Pantheon Books released the book in 2000 following its serialization in the newspaper ''Newcity'' and Ware's ''Acme Novelty Library'' series. ...
'', a graphic novel set in part at the Exposition * ''
Wonder of the Worlds ''Wonder of the Worlds'' Sesh Heri, published 2005 by Lost Continent Library, is the first in a trilogy of novels featuring secret agent Harry Houdini facing off against a Martian invasion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Plot introdu ...
'', an adventure novel where Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain, and Houdini pursue Martian agents who have stolen a powerful crystal from Tesla at the Exposition. * '' The Will of an Eccentric'', an adventure novel by
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraord ...
. The Exposition is evoked with admiration in the early chapters. *The Exposition appears in the season 1 episode "The World's Columbian Exposition" of the NBC series ''
Timeless Timeless (or atemporal) or timelessness (or atemporality) may refer to: * Agelessness, the condition of being unaffected by the passage of time * Akal (Sikh term), timelessness in Sikhism * Eternity, timeless existence or infinite duration * Immo ...
''. *The Exposition is referenced in
Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...
's song in his album ''
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...
'', "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!", which consists of two parts. Part 1 is titled, "World's Columbian Exposition". *The Exposition plays a role in the historical novel, ''Owen Glen'', by Ben Ames Williams. * ''
BioShock Infinite ''BioShock Infinite'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. The third installment in the BioShock (series), ''BioShock'' series, ''Infinite'' was released worldwide for the Microsoft Window ...
'', a 2013 video game. The floating city-state of
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
was created at the Exposition and toured across the world to promote
American exceptionalism American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is inherently different from other nations.The City Beautiful'' by Aden Polydoros. *The exposition appears in the travel book by
Aleko Konstantinov Aleko Konstantinov ( bg, Алеко Константинов) (1 January 1863 – 11 May 1897) ( NS: 13 January 1863 – 23 May 1897) was a Bulgarian writer, best known for his character Bay Ganyo, one of the most popular characters in Bulgaria ...
, " To Chicago and Back".


See also

* '' Signal of Peace'' * '' Kwanusila'' *
List of world expositions The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) sanctions world expositions. Some have been recognised retrospectively because they took place before the BIE came into existence. The designation "World Exposition" refers to a class of the larges ...
*
List of world's fairs This is a list of international and colonial world's fairs, as well as a list of national exhibitions, a comprehensive chronological list of world's fairs (with notable permanent buildings built). 1790s * 1791 – Prague, Bohemia, Habsburg ...
*
Benjamin W. Kilburn Benjamin West Kilburn (December 10, 1827 – January 15, 1909) was an American photographer and stereoscopic view publisher famous for his landscape images of the nascent American and Canadian state, provincial, and national parks and his visua ...
, stereoscopic view concession *
H. H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer, the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Until his execution in 1896, he ...
, serial killer associated with the 1893 World's Fair *
St. John Cantius Church (Chicago) Saint John Cantius Church ( pl, Kościół Świętego Jana Kantego) is a historic Catholic church of the Archdiocese of Chicago known for its architecture, liturgical practices, and affiliation with the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. With mo ...
, whose main altar, as well as its matching two side altars, reputedly originate from the 1893 Columbian Exposition * Spectacle Reef Light *
World's Largest Stove The World's Largest Stove (also called The Michigan Stove and Mammoth Garland) was an oversized replica of a kitchen stove that was made for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair as a representation of Michigan Stove Company and its products. After th ...
* World's Largest Cedar Bucket *
Fairy lamp Fairy lamps (depending on locale, also called fairy lights) were a small, glass candle lamp that originally gained popularity during the 1880s and '90's. History The lamps' original purpose was utilitarian with the typical pieces including the ba ...
, candle sets popularized at Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee were used to illuminate an island at the Expo * St. Louis Autumnal Festival Association


Notes


References

* The project documenting The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893
Website main page
* * * * * Neuberger, Mary. 2006. "To Chicago and Back: Alecko Konstantinov, Rose Oil, and the Smell of Modernity" in ''Slavic Review'', Fall 2006. * Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Vintage Books a Division of Random House, Inc., 2003.

* Redman, Samuel J. ''Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2016.
Placko, Dane. “Chilling Tour inside Serial Killer H. H. Holmes’ ‘Murder Castle’”. My Fox Chicago. Apr. 28, 2014. Oct 2, 2014.

French, Leanne; Grimm, Laura; Pak, Eudie. “H. H. Holmes Biography”
Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
. 2014. October 1, 2014. * French, Leanne; Grimm, Laura; Pak, Eudie. H. H. Holmes – The World Fair. Television clip. Biography. 2014. A&E Networks, A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2014. Video from biography.com. * French, Leanne; Grimm, Laura; Pak, Eudie. H. H. Holmes – Chicago Expansion. Television clip. Biography. 2014. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2014. Video from biography.com. * French, Leanne; Grimm, Laura; Pak, Eudie. H. H. Holmes – Finding the Victims. Television Clip. Biography. 2014. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2014. Video from biography.com. * French, Leanne; Grimm, Laura; Pak, Eudie. H. H. Holmes – Full Biography. Television clip. Biography. 2014. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2014. Video from biography.com.


Further reading

* Appelbaum, Stanley (1980). ''The Chicago World's Fair of 1893.'' New York: Dover Publications, Inc. * Arnold, C.D. ''Portfolio of Views: The World's Columbian Exposition''. National Chemigraph Company, Chicago & St. Louis, 1893. * Hubert Howe Bancroft, Bancroft, Hubert Howe. ''The Book of the Fair: An Historical and Descriptive Presentation of the World's Science, Art and Industry, As Viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893''. New York: Bounty, 1894. * Barrett, John Patrick,
Electricity at the Columbian Exposition
'. R.R. Donnelley, 1894. * * Bertuca, David, ed. ''World's Columbian Exposition: A Centennial Bibliographic Guide''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. * Buel, James William. ''The Magic City.'' New York: Arno Press, 1974. * Burg, David F. ''Chicago's White City of 1893.'' Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1976. * Corn, Wanda M. ''Women Building History: Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.'' Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011. * Dybwad, G. L., and Joy V. Bliss, ''Annotated Bibliography: World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893''. Book Stops Here, 1992. * Eagle, Mary Kavanaugh Oldham, d. 1903, ed
''The Congress of Women: Held in the Woman's Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U. S. A., 1893, With Portraits, Biographies and Addresses''
Chicago: Monarch Book Company, 1894. * Elliott, Maud Howe, 1854–1948, ed

Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally and Co., 1894. *Green, Christopher T
"A Stage Set for Assimilation: The Model Indian School at the World’s Columbian Exposition"
''Winterthur Portfolio''. Volume 51, Number 2/3 (Summer/Autumn 2017). *
Glimpses of the World's Fair: A Selection of Gems of the White City Seen Through A Camera
', Laird & Lee Publishers, Chicago: 1893, accessed February 13, 2009. *
International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

Mathematical papers read at the International Mathematical Congress
: held in connection with the World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, 1893 (1st : 1893 : Chicago, Ill.). *Jaegerová, Anna.
Ideals of Authenticity: Euro-American Sculptural Representations of Native Americans at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893
'. Diploma thesis. July 8, 2021. Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts. * Erik Larson (author), Larson, Erik. ''The Devil in the White City, Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.'' New York: Crown, 2003. . * Ormos, István: ''Cairo in Chicago : Cairo street at the world's Columbian exposition of 1893'', Le Caire : Institut Francais d'Archéologie Orientale (IFAO), 2021; * ''Photographs of the World's Fair: an elaborate collection of photographs of the buildings, grounds and exhibits of the World's Columbian Exposition with a special description of The Famous Midway Plaisance''. Chicago: Werner, 1894. * Peck, Richard, ''Fair Weather'', an adventure novel about a 13-year-old being away from home for the first time and visiting the fair. * Reed, Christopher Robert. ''"All the World Is Here!" The Black Presence at White City''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000. * Rydell, Robert, and Carolyn Kinder Carr, eds. ''Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1993. * Ida B. Wells, Wells, Ida B.
''The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition: The Afro-American's Contribution to Columbian Literature.''
Originally published 1893. Reprint ed., edited by Robert W. Rydell. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1999. * World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.). Board of Lady Managers

by World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.). Board of Lady Managers; edited by Edith E. Clarke. Chicago: n. pub., ca. 1894. A bibliography. * Yandell, Enid

by Enid Yandell, Jean Loughborough and Laura Hayes. Chicago: Bright, Leonard and Co., 1892. Biographical account of women at the fair.


External links


Expo 1893 Chicago
at Bureau International des Expositions
The 1893 World's Fair in Chicago
(worldsfairchicago1893.com). A standalone website that covers all aspects of the Exposition
Chicago 1893
is a media project about the Exposition which includes a book, film, and augmented reality




Photographs of the 1893 Columbian Exposition from Illinois Institute of Technology



The Story of the Columbian Expo Battleship ''Illinois Bell''President Benjamin Harrison: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of America
Shapell Manuscript Foundation


Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views: Exhibitions 1893
Search results, at New York Public Library Digital Collections

Overview of an archival collection on the World's Columbian Exposition.
Columbian Theatre
History and information about artwork from the U.S. Government Building.

* [http://www.ust.ucla.edu/ustweb/Projects/columbian_expo.htm Video simulations from the 1893 Columbian Exposition from UCLA's Urban Simulation Team]
1893 Columbian Exposition Concerts


* [http://www.gtj.org.uk/small/item/GTJ31358/ International Eisteddfod chair, Chicago, 1893]
Photographs of the Exposition from the
Hagley Digital Archives
Map of Chicago Columbian Exposition from the American Geographical Society Library

Interactive Map of the Chicago Columbian Exposition, created in the Harvard Worldmap PlatformPresident Harrison: Worlds Columbian Exposition
Shapell Manuscript Foundation
Guide to the World's Columbian Exposition Ticket Collection, 1893, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University

Guide to World's Columbian Exposition resources
a
Field Museum LibraryGuide to the World's Columbian Exposition Records 1891-1930
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{Authority control World's Columbian Exposition, World's fairs in Chicago Architecture in Chicago 1890s architecture in the United States 1893 in the United States South Side, Chicago Mesoamerican art exhibitions Pre-Columbian art exhibitions Beaux-Arts architecture in Illinois Festivals established in 1893 1890s in Chicago 1893 in Illinois