Then and Now: The World’s Columbian Exposition – Chicago

In the late 19th century, a reform movement that sought to improve the nation’s cities through beautification gained wide exposure through the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The fair expressed the ideals of the “City Beautiful” reformers through the creation of a “White City” of architecture and infrastructure built in the Beaux Arts style, which was a shining example of city planning.

The World’s Columbian Exposition transformed the city of Chicago in 1893 and influenced the city’s development for decades to come. The Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, was located in Jackson Park, at the current site of the Museum of Science and Industry, the University of Chicago and the Midway Plaisance.

The six-month event drew an estimated 27 million visitors, 14 million from outside the United States, at a time when the population of Chicago was just more than 1 million.

The Columbian Exposition celebrated, one year late, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas. Chicago competed with cities such as New York and St. Louis for the right to host the fair.

Exposition planners wanted to demonstrate Chicago’s international stature just 22 years after much of the city center had been destroyed by fire. Promoters also wanted to focus on the progress, change and innovation that happened in America since the end of the Civil War.

Daniel Burnham served as the fair’s lead architect and oversaw the design and planning of the fair’s main buildings. These massive, neoclassical structures came to be known, collectively, as the White City.

Despite their imposing appearance, the buildings were made from wood frames wrapped in staff, a white color plaster mixture that created the illusion of stone. The White City lasted for six months, the length of the fair. The exposition closed in late October 1893; and that winter, a number of the buildings were destroyed by fire.

Just as the organizers had hoped, the scale and grandeur of the Columbian World’s Exposition surpassed any previous international exhibition. It featured a grand display of nearly 200 buildings, and it brought in people and cultures from 46 countries.

There were many other magnificent structures at the fair, such as the Machinery Hall, the Manufacture and Liberal Arts Building, and the Electricity Building, among others. The Palace of Fine Arts was designed as a fire-proof building to protect valuable paintings on display. This building was one of two designed to be permanent. Today, the Palace has become the Museum of Science and Industry.

Burnham officially challenged all American engineers to design and build a structure so special that it even could outperform the Eiffel Tower. A 33-year-old civil engineer from Pennsylvania, George Ferris Jr., arrived in Chicago and learned about the challenge. Ferris sketched out and submitted a plan for a huge “observation wheel” in full detail, including the ticket price. Ferris had found investors who were willing to cover the construction cost to build the structure.

The Ferris Wheel quickly became the top attraction at the Exposition. The magnificent wheel featured 36 huge and elegant cars, each of which could fit 60 people for a total of 2,160 passengers. Visitors paid 50 cents each to ride the attraction. The ticket for a 20-minute ride was equal to the exposition’s general admission fee. On an average day, nearly 10,000 people rode the wheel. With nearly five months of operation, the wheel carried total 1.5 million passengers and generated $750,000 for the Ferris Wheel Co.

By the end of the Exposition, the Ferris Wheel had become the symbol of American’s national pride at the fair. While the wheel was not meant to be a permanent structure like the Eiffel Tower, the Ferris Wheel came to embody the significant characteristics of the 19th century America – technology, mobility, innovation and change.

The Then photograph shows a view of the Ferris Wheel looking east from the Midway Plaisance. Notice the Captive Balloon ride just to the left of the giant wheel. The Now image shows a similar view of the Midway Plaisance today.

Image Credit: The Then photograph is from David Belden and the Local History Project digital collections. The Now photograph was taken by Christine O'Brien.

We Need Your Help:

David Belden is a history teacher at Minooka Community High School and is currently publishing local postcard books with Arcadia Publishing in his Local History classes. He and his students are looking for old Joliet photos and postcards, and images from Joliet’s parks, for a new publication. Photographer and editor Christine O’Brien is an English teacher at Minooka Community High School and currently edits and authors books with Arcadia.

If you are interested in contributing a postcard image, please email him at dbelden@mchs.net or localhistory@mchs.net call 815-467-2140, ext. 260. You also can like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/localhistory.