World Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893

The World Columbian Exposition (also called "The Chicago World's Fair"), a World's fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the New World. Chicago had beaten New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri for the honor of hosting the fair. During the competition to win the fair, editor Charles A. Dana of the New York Sun dubbed Chicago the "windy city." File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Worlds Fair is the generic name for various large expositions held since the mid 19th century. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... No authentic contemporary portrait of Columbus has been found; this late 19th-century engraving is one of many conjectural images For information about the director, see the article on Chris Columbus. ... The New World is one of the names used for the continents of North and South America and adjacent islands collectively, in use since the 16th century. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... The Gateway Arch, shown here behind the Old Courthouse, is the most recognizable part of the St. ...

One-third scale replica of The Republic, which once stood in the great basin at the exposition, Chicago, 2004

Opening 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, the fair also served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire which had destroyed much of the city in 1871. Download high resolution version (672x1162, 117 KB)Photo by J. Crocker, August 2004. ... Download high resolution version (672x1162, 117 KB)Photo by J. Crocker, August 2004. ... October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... 1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... Artists rendering of the fire, by John R Chapin. ... 1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

The exposition was located in Jackson Park and on the Midway Plaisance on 630 acres (2.5 km²) in the neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn. 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. The Director of the American Academy in Rome, Francis David Millet, directed the painted mural decorations. Indeed, it was a coming-of-age for the arts and architecture of the "American Renaissance". Most of the buildings were based on classical architecture, and the area taken up by the fair around the Court of Honor was known as "The White City". Louis Sullivan's polychrome proto-Modern Transportation Building was an outstanding exception, but his opinion was that the "White City" had set back modern American architecture by forty years. McKim, Mead and White designed the Agriculture building. Of the more than 200 buildings erected for the fair, the only one which still stands is the Palace of Fine Arts. From the time the fair closed until 1920, the building housed the Field Columbian Museum (now the relocated Field Museum of Natural History). In 1931 the building re-opened as the Museum of Science and Industry. Osaka Garden, with MSI in background Jackson Park is a 500 acre (2 km²) park on Chicagos South Side, bordering Lake Michigan and the neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn. ... Midway Plaisance is a linear park located along Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois near the downtown Loop area. ... Ā Hyde Park is a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, located seven miles south of the Loop; it is home to the Museum of Science and Industry and the University of Chicago. ... Woodlawn is a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago bounded by Jackson Park to the East, the University of Chicago to the North, Martin Luther King Drive to the West, and, mostly, 67th to the South. ... Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822–August 28, 1903) was a United States landscape architect, famous for designing many well known urban parks, including Central Park in New York, New York, the countrys oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York, Mount Royal Park in... ... Architecture (in Greek αρχή = first and τέχνη = craftsmanship) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... Masonic Temple Building Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 - June 1, 1912) was born in Henderson, New York and raised in Chicago, Illinois. ... Francis Davis Millet (name sometimes given as Francis David Millet; November 3, 1846 - April 15, 1912) was an American painter and writer and one of those who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. ... For the white nationalist magazine, see American Renaissance (magazine). ... Louis Sullivan Louis Henry [sometimes Henri] Sullivan (September 3, 1856 - April 14, 1924) was an American architect, called the father of modernism and is considered by many to be the creator of the Prairie School of Architecture. ... McKim, Mead, and White was the premier architectural firm in the eastern United States at the turn of the twentieth century. ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago The Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago, Illinois, USA, sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex called known as the Museum Campus which includes Soldier Field, the football stadium that is the home of the Chicago... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Museum of Science and Industry is housed in the only surviving building from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition and is a National Historic Landmark. ...

The buildings at the fair were all built to be temporary. Their facades were made not of stone, but of a mixture of plaster and hemp called "staff." The "White City," however, so impressed everyone who saw it that plans were considered to refinish the exteriors in marble or some other material. Sadly, these plans had to be abandoned in July 1894 when fair grounds were destroyed in a fire. (The fire occurred at the height of the Pullman Strike; since the strikers set other fires that very week, it is possible the fire was set by disgruntled Pullman employees.) July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Pullman Strike The Pullman Strike of 1894 occurred when 3,000 Pullman Palace Car Company workers went on a wildcat strike in Illinois on 11 May. ...

Columbian Exposition from stereopticon card photo.

1893 Chicago Worlds Fair from stereopticon card photo This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair from stereopticon card photo This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...

Electricity at the fair

The International Exposition was held in a building which -- for the first time -- was devoted to electrical exhibits. It was an historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse introduced the public to electrical power by providing alternating current to illuminate the Exposition. The general public observed firsthand the qualities and abilities of alternating current power. All the exhibits were from commercial enterprises. Thomas Edison, Brush, Western Electric, and Westinghouse had exhibits. General Electric Company (backed by Edison and J.P. Morgan) proposed to power the electric fair with direct current at the cost of one million dollars. Nikola Tesla (July 9/July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943) was a physicist, inventor, and electrical engineer of unusual intellectual brilliance and practical achievement. ... Westinghouse could refer to the company: Westinghouse Electric Corporation Westinghouse is also the name of the founder of that company: George Westinghouse Also with the name Westinghouse: Westinghouse air brake This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The article on electrical energy is located elsewhere. ... An alternating current (AC) is an electrical current, where the magnitude and direction of the current varies cyclically, as opposed to direct current, where the direction of the current stays constant. ... Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many important devices. ... Western Electric (sometimes abbreviated WECo) was a US electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of the Bell Telephone Company from 1881 to 1984 . ... Westinghouse could refer to the company: Westinghouse Electric Corporation Westinghouse is also the name of the founder of that company: George Westinghouse Also with the name Westinghouse: Westinghouse air brake This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The General Electric Company, or GE, (NYSE: GE) is a multinational technology and services company. ... John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913), American financier and banker, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, a son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890), who was a partner of George Peabody and the founder of the house of J. S. Morgan & Co. ... Direct current (DC or continuous current) is the continuous flow of electricity through a conductor such as a wire from high to low potential. ...

Westinghouse, armed with Tesla's alternating current system, proposed to illuminate the exposition for half that price. Tesla's high-frequency high-voltage lighting produced more efficient light with quantitatively less heat. A two-phase induction motor was driven by current from the main generators to power the system. Edison tried to prevent the use of his light bulbs in Tesla's works. General Electric banned the use of Edison's lamps in Westinghouse's exhibits. Westinghouse's proposal was chosen over the inferior direct current system to power the fair. Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... In the physical sciences, potential difference is the difference in potential between two points in a conservative vector field. ... A motor is a device that converts energy into mechanical power, and is often synonymous with engine. ... Generator redirects here. ...

The Westinghouse Company displayed several polyphase systems. The exhibits included a switchboard, polyphase generators, step-up transformers, transmission line, step-down transformers, commercial size induction motors and synchronous motors, 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. Polyphase electrical systems supply alternating current electrical power in overlapping phases. ... The word Transformer can also mean: The Transformers toys, and the related comics and animated television series which have run from the 1980s onwards. ...

Tesla displayed his phosphorescent lighting, powered without wires by high-frequency fields (or what is known today as neon lights). Tesla also displayed the first neon light tubes at the exposition. Tesla's lighting inventions exposed to high-frequency currents would bring the gases to incandescence. Tesla displayed the first practical phosphorescent lamps (a precursor to fluorescent lamps). His innovations in this type of light emission were not regularly patented. A neon lamp is a gas discharge lamp containing neon gas at low pressure. ... A compact fluorescent lamp A fluorescent lamp is a type of electric lamp that excites argon and mercury vapor to create luminescence. ...

Also among the exhibits was Tesla's demonstration, most notably the "Egg of Columbus". This device explains the principles of the rotating magnetic field and his induction motor. The Egg of Columbus consisted of a polyphase field coil underneath a plate with a copper egg positioned over the top. When the sequence of coils were energized, the magnetic field arrangement inductively created a rotation on the egg and made it stand up on end (appearing to resist gravity). On August 25, Elisha Gray introduced Tesla for a delivery of a lecture on mechanical and electrical oscillators. Tesla explained his work for efficiently increasing the work at high frequency of reciprocation. As Electrical Congress members listened, Tesla delineated mechanisms which could produce oscillations of constant periods irrespective of the pressure applied and irrespective of frictional losses and loads. He continued to explain the working mean of the production of constant period electric currents (not resorting to spark gaps or breaks), and how to produce these with mechanisms which are reliable. The Egg of Columbus is a story about Christopher Columbus that takes place at a dinner which a Spanish gentleman had given in his honor. ... August 25 is the 237th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (238th in leap years), with 128 days remaining. ... Elisha Gray (August 2, 1835 - January 21, 1901) independently invented the telephone in his laboratory in Highland Park, Illinois. ... Oscillation is the periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure as seen, for example, in a swinging pendulum. ...

The Exposition's illumination with electricity, using Tesla and Westinghouse's alternate current, resulted in removing doubt of the usefulness of the polyphase alternating current.

White City

Chicago 1893 Worlds Fair view from stereopticon card photo This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Chicago 1893 Worlds Fair view from stereopticon card photo This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...

Other notable attractions

The World Columbian Exposition was the first world's fair with an area for amusements which was strictly separated from the exhibition halls. This area, concentrated on Midway Plaisance, included carnival rides - among them the first Ferris Wheel, built by George Ferris. This wheel was 250 feet high and had 36 cars, each of which could accommodate 60 people. One of the cars carried a band which played whenever the wheel was in motion. Nearby, Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show performed, perpetuating the images of the American frontier which had just officially been declared closed. At the same time, historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave academic lectures reflecting on the end of the same frontier. Another popular Midway attraction was the "Street in Cairo", which included the popular exotic dancer known as Little Egypt. Six Flags New England, an amusement park in Springfield, Massachusetts. ... A Ferris wheel is an amusement ride consisting of an upright wheel with passenger gondolas suspended from the rim. ... Buffalo Bill (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was born William Frederick Cody in the American state of Iowa. ... Frederick Jackson Turner Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861–1932) was an American historian. ... Alternate meaning: an area in southern Illinois. ...

The Electrotachyscope of Ottomar Anschütz, which used a Geissler Tube to project the illusion of moving images was demonstrated. The Geissler tube was a glass tube for demonstrating the principles of electrical discharge, invented by the German glassblower Heinrich Geissler in 1857. ... An illusion is a distortion of a sensory perception. ... Origins of motion picture arts and sciences Any overview of the history of cinema would be remiss to fail to at least mention a long history of literature, storytelling, narrative drama, art, mythology, puppetry, shadow play, cave paintings and perhaps even dreams. ...

Louis Comfort Tiffany made his reputation with a stunning chapel he designed and built for the Exposition. This chapel has been carefully reconstructed in recent years, and can now be seen in excellent condition at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 - January 17, 1933) was an American artist most famous for his Art Nouveau pieces in stained glass. ...

Forty-six nations participated in the fair, including Haiti, which selected Frederick Douglass to be its coordinator. The Exposition drew nearly 26 million visitors, and left a remembered vision that can be recognized even in the "Emerald City" of L. Frank Baum. Haiti is a country situated on the western third of the island of Hispaniola and the smaller islands of La Gonâve, La Tortue (Tortuga), Grande Caye, and Ile a Vache in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba; the Dominican Republic shares Hispaniola with Haiti. ... Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born: Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey -- c. ... Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 - May 6, 1919) was an American author and the creator of one of the most beloved classics of childrens literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. ...

Three days before the fair was scheduled to close, Chicago mayor Carter Harrison, Sr. was assassinated by a disgruntled office seeker, putting a damper on the fair's closing ceremonies. Carter Henry Harrison, Sr. ...

Famous firsts at the fair

• Aunt Jemima Syrup
• Cracker Jacks
• Cream of Wheat
• Diet carbonated soda
• Elongated coins
• Ferris Wheel
• Juicy Fruit gum
• Pabst Beer
• Shredded Wheat
• The hamburger was introduced to the United States.
• The United States produced its first commemorative stamp set.
• The United States Postal Service produced its first picture postcards.
• United States Mint offered its first commemorative coins: a quarter, half dollar, and dollar
• The first known serial killer in the United States, H. H. Holmes, murdered an undetermined number (estimated at over 50) of visitors to the Fair.
• The term "midway" came into common use to define an area where park rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated at parks and fairs, after the area of that type located on Chicago's Midway Plaisance at the World Columbian Exposition.

An early depiction of Aunt Jemima Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other pancake-related comestibles. ... For the 1960s British childrens television series, see Crackerjack. ... Semolina is coarsely ground durum wheat, with particles mostly between 0. ... Elongated coins are coins that have been flattened, stretched and imprinted with a new design with the purpose of creating a commemorative or souvenir token. ... A Ferris wheel is an amusement ride consisting of an upright wheel with passenger gondolas suspended from the rim. ... Assorted Juicy Fruit packaging Juicy Fruit is a flavor of chewing gum made by Wrigleys. ... Hamburgers often contain lettuce, onions, and other toppings, as shown here. ... A USPS Truck at Night A U.S. Post Office sign The United States Postal Service (USPS) is the United States government organization responsible for providing postal service in the United States and is generally referred to as the post office. ... The United States Mint is responsible for producing and circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... Herman Webster Mudgett (1861 - May 7, 1896) was a 19th-century serial killer, better known as H.H. Holmes. ... Midway Plaisance is a linear park located along Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois near the downtown Loop area. ...

Additional Reading

• Larson, Erik (2003) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Crown; ISBN 0609608444. Readable, dramatic nonfiction account intertwines the stories of architect Daniel H. Burnham and the building of the Fair with that of serial killer H. H. Holmes.

Masonic Temple Building Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 - June 1, 1912) was born in Henderson, New York and raised in Chicago, Illinois. ... Herman Webster Mudgett (1861 - May 7, 1896) was a 19th-century serial killer, better known as H.H. Holmes. ...

External links

• Interactive Guide to the World's Columbian Exposition (http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/columbian.html#TOP)
• 1893 World's Fair (http://fly.hiwaay.net/~shancock/fair/text/welcome.html)
• The Exposition in American culture. (http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/title.html)
• Photographs of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/1893fair.html)
• Photographs of the 1893 Columbian Exposition from Illinois Institute of Technology (http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/)
• Interactive map of Columbian Exposition (http://www.chicagohs.org/history/expo/map.html)