Description: The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism.The Exposition, designed by (building architect) Daniel Burnham and (landscape architect) Frederick Law Olmsted, was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be -- adhering to the Beaux Arts principles of design, namely French neoclassical architecture principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendor. It covered more than 600 acres, with 200 new (but purposefully temporary) buildings, canals and lagoons, and 50,000 exhibitors including people and cultures from 46 nations around the world. More than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run, May-October, 1893. The scale and grandeur far exceeded the previous world fairs, and it became a symbol of the emerging American Exceptionalism. 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 just 22 years earlier in 1871. The Exposition inspired both L. Frank Baum (the Emerald City in the Land of Oz) and Walt Disney (the Disneyland theme parks). Landscape architect Olmsted is perhaps best-known for his design of Central Park and the Biltmore estate.White CityThe area at the Court of Honor was known as The White City. The classical architecture buildings were made of a white stucco, which, in comparison to the tenements 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. "It's not a White City, it's a Dreamland." -- The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson.Electricity at the fairGeneral Electric Company (backed by Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan) had originally proposed to power the electric exhibits with direct-current at the cost of US $1.8 million; after this was rejected as exorbitant, General Electric revised their bid to $554,000. However, Westinghouse, armed with Nikola Tesla's alternating-current system, proposed to illuminate the Columbian Exposition in Chicago for $399,000, which won the contract. It was a historical moment and the beginning of a revolution, as Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced the public to alternating-current electrical power -- the high-frequency high-voltage lighting produced more efficient light with quantitatively less heat. General Electric banned the use of Edison's lamps in Westinghouse's plan in retaliation for losing the bid, but Westinghouse's company quickly designed a double-stopper lightbulb (sidestepping Edison's patents) and was able to light the fair."If evenings at the fair were seductive, the nights were ravishing. The lamps that laced every building and walkway produced the most elaborate demonstration of electric illumination ever attempted and the first large-scale test of alternating current. The fair alone consumed three times as much electricity as the entire city of Chicago. These were important engineering milestones, but what visitors adored was the sheer beauty of seeing so many lights ignited in one place, at one time. Every building, including the Manufacures and Liberal Arts Building, was outlined in white bulbs. Giant searchlights -- the largest ever made and said to be visible sixty miles away -- had been mounted on the Manufactures' roof and swept the grounds and surrounding neighborhoods. Large colored bulbs lit the hundred-foot plumes of water that burst from the MacMonnies Fountain." ... it "was like getting a sudden vision of Heaven." -- The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson.The Financial Risk Paid OffAs 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, May 1. Frequent debates and disagreements among the developers of the fair had added many delays to all the projects, and escalated costs to over $20 million ($500 million today). Thus, the financial status of the fair was in doubt until its final weeks, as the deepening economic depression of 1893, plus the tardiness of completion of many of the exhibits, delayed attendance. However, fair attendance records were shattered on "Chicago Day" October 9th; businesses in Chicago had closed for the day, and over 750,000 people attended the fair, almost twice as many as the previous record (397,000 in Paris in 1889). The daily admission price was 50ยข ($12 today). The spurning of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show proved a serious financial mistake, as 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. On the other hand, the famous Ferris Wheel, which was not finished until mid-June, six weeks into the fair (because it was approved so late due to indecisiveness of the board of directors), proved to be a major attendance draw and helped save the fair from bankruptcy. Overall, the construction and operation of the fair proved to be a windfall for Chicago workers during the serious economic recession that was sweeping the country.
Price: 90.25 USD
Location: Tuckerton, New Jersey
End Time: 2024-05-07T18:37:00.000Z
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Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Country of Manufacture: United States
Columbian Exposition: Chicago World's Fair
