Imagine. It’s 1893 and you embark upon “The White City,” Chicago’s World Fair. Taking a gondola taxi across The Great Basin to displays of modern inventions. A Ferris Wheel, a moving walkway and electricity dazzle each of the fair-goers. Lighthouse engineering and spray painting were introduced. Many new foods were featured: Juicy Fruit gum, Cracker Jacks, Hershey Chocolate and the hamburger. Join Chuck and I as we explore the “Columbian Exposition,” Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair!
Photo Credit: The Atlantic
The Columbian Exposition
This was a celebration of Columbus’ 400th anniversary discovering ‘the new world.’ Festivities ran from May to October in 1893 throughout the 630 acres of the Jackson Park area.
Photo Credit: The Atlantic
U.S. Congress had appointed the city of Chicago to host this six month affair. Chicago had competed against New York, St. Louis and Washington D.C. Each day more than 150,000 people attended the world celebration.
Photo Credit: The Atlantic
Yes. That’s a gondola taxi you see in the photo. Attendees were impressed with the grandeur of over 200 new structures. These temporary buildings had been constructed from wood and plaster, then spray painted white, earning the nickname, “The White City.”
Keep in mind that this was just two decades following The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Daniel Burnham had been a lead architect on planning “The White City” built in and around Jackson Park.
Jackson Park
Frederick Law Olmstead, who had designed New York’s Central Park, had also assembled the plans for Chicago’s Jackson Park.
Daniel Burnham, architect, developed the layout and plans for “The White City.” His vision of “City Beautiful” included a purity and grandeur while creating smooth methods of transporting people throughout the quickly growing city.
Photo Credit: The Library of Congress
Notice the moving sidewalk along The Great Warf along bottom left side of the above map. Below one can view how people could choose to stand or sit on this conveyor of convenience.
Electricity
Did you know that bids for electrical lighting of the World’s Fair had caused controversy? The final product shaped our world’s future with electricity.
Thomas Edison, backed by financier J.P. Morgan, had proven his D.C. (direct current) power as it was being used to power New York street cars in 1882. A year later Nikola Tesla, who had been financed by George Westinghouse, built his first A.C. (alternating current) transformer. The A.C. system could travel farther and was safer to use. So as plans for the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition neared, a battle of bids rang out between Edison and Tesla.
Photo Credit: History Collection
Tesla’s A.C. polyphase system won the bid. Twenty-seven million visitors from countries around the world witnessed these electric displays. This shaped how the world would be wired for electricity, using alternating current.
Photo Credit: Todd Johnson’s Blog Post January 2013
Can you imagine only knowing candle light and oil lanterns weakly illuminating your home and then witnessing the brightness of lightbulbs for the first time? The pure wonderment of the lights reflected in the Great Basin must have been dream-like.
The Ferris Wheel
Another dazzling feature of the fair was the Ferris Wheel. This steam powered amusement opened on June 21, 1893. It had been built by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., a Pittsburgh engineer. The design had been made to compete with the Eiffel Tower which had been constructed for the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris.
Photo Credit: The Atlantic
Each of the 36 cars could hold 60 people and would make a complete revolution every ten to twenty minutes allowing riders a bird’s-eye view of the exposition. This would have been a new perspective for people of that era.
Along with most of the fair structures, the Ferris Wheel was disassembled on May 11, 1906.
Acres of Interests
Attendees often spent several days visiting sections of the World’s Fair in order to take in the many sites.
With the hope of promoting trade, the Avenue of the States featured exhibits from various regions around our nation. Several countries also displayed their goods: Canada and Russia are pictured. Impressive Japanese gardens laid south of The Great Basin.
The Midway Plaisance showcased cultural exhibits, which wouldn’t be politically correct today, as they were racially organized from “most evolved” to “least evolved.”
Extensive displays of live creatures and taxidermy animals were on exhibit at The House of Trained Animals, The Anthropology Building and The Smithsonian Building.
Tasty Treats Were Introduced
Many tasty treats made their public debut at the 1893 World’s Fair: Cracker Jack to Vienna Sausages, Hershey Chocolate to Wrigley’s Gum as well as breakfast offerings of Cream of Wheat and Shredded Wheat. The hamburger was also introduced.
Engineering marvels were also featured at the World’s Fair.
Zippers!
Elias Howe had designed “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closures” in the 1850’s. Howe moved his focus to innovating plans for the sewing machine.
Forty years later, Whitcomb Judson and his partner, Colonel Lewis Walker, used Howe’s idea to create a clothing fastener which they first called a “clasp locker.” After receiving a patent for “The Separable Fastener” the duo displayed their invention at the fair.
Gideon Sundback, from the Universal Fastener Company, continued to work on the ‘clasp locker’ and by 1913 designed the zipper!
Spectacle Reef Lighthouse
Another engineering marvel was Spectacle Reef Lighthouse. This crib light station, standing alone eighteen miles east of Cheyboygan in Lake Huron, was the first of it’s kind and had been known as “the most spectacular engineering achievement” in lighthouse construction. This 1870’s model had set the standard for crib lights.
Photo Credits: Patrick McKinstry and Terry Pepper
Interlocking limestone blocks had been formed at a basecamp on the Cheneaux Islands and assembled with mortar on site. The blocks fused together forming a massive monolithic structure. Patrick McCann had been the first to lite the lamp in June 1874. Nineteen years later, Spectacle Reef Light was featured at the World’s Fair.
This past summer, Spectacle Reef celebrated it’s 150th birthday! The preservation society is working to make the crib lighthouse an educational site. Chuck has helped out with clearing the pipes in the base. White Shoal, another crib light station, accommodates overnight guests! There are eighteen crib lighthouses standing proudly across the Great Lakes region.
L. Frank Baum Is Said To Have Been Inspired
L. Frank Baum, eventual author of “The Wizard of Oz,” attended “The White City” fair several times. At that time Baum had been a crockery salesman and poultry farmer who was working to become a store window decorator. His recollections of the World’s Fair had only been captured in other family members’ letters and journals. These legends may have grown over time, but it is believed that the fair had been an inspiration for “The Emerald City” in his famous story published in May of 1900.
According to Phil Patton, a Smithsonian journalist, “Children’s writer L. Frank Baum never forgot the fair and transmuted it into Oz.”
Only Two Buildings Remain
The Art Institute of Chicago and The Field Museum are the only two structures that remain from the 1893 World’s Fair.
Photo Credit: The Art Institute’s Facebook Page
The Field Museum had originally housed The Palace of Fine Arts during the exhibition.
Daniel Burnham’s Neo-classical style became the go-to design for banks and government buildings across the country.
Plans for Chicago and Cities Around the World
Following the fair architects, Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett, published future city plans for Chicago using what they’d learned from the World’s Fair. This 1909 publication became an influential guide for urban planning around the world.
The Statue of the Republic
Daniel Chester French created the World’s Fair center piece, the Statue of the Republic. The figure holds a globe topped with an eagle for protection and a staff with a sign, “LIBERTY” surrounded by laurels.
The original 65 foot figure had been destroyed, but on the 25th anniversary of the fair (1918) a replica was installed, “The Golden Lady.” It wasn’t until June 4, 2003 that “The Golden Lady” had been designated as a Chicago Landmark.
“The Devil in the White City”
Several years ago we had been captivated by the non-fiction novel “The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson. The author scribes side by side stories of the 1893 World’s Fair. Larson features architect, Daniel Burnham, and the serial killer, Dr. H. H. Holmes.
Ponderings
After reading “The Devil in the White City,” we have been looking forward to delving deeper into the 1893 World’s Fair. This journey has been fascinating!
I marvel at the innovation that had taken place over a century ago and how these inventions have shaped where we are today. Continue being curious and make memories! Thank you for coming along!
Related Links:
Enjoy our YouTube video of our caper along the south shore of Lake Michigan.
“Spectacle Reef’s 150th Birthday” Restless Viking article
Resources:
Chicago’s Architecture Center article
The Atlantic Post Facebook Post
The Atlantic article
The Art Institute of Chicago Facebook Page
1893 World’s Fair article
World’s Fair Chicago article
1893 Map of Chicago’s World Fair from the Library of Congress
Todd Johnson’s blog post “Lighting the 1893 World’s Fair” January 2013
Chicago’s World’s Fair inventions article
Revival vintage clothing website
History Collection article
Huntington Library Statue of the Republic article
