World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)

The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair, was organized in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s landing in America. The fairgrounds, open from May 1, 1893 until October 30, 1893, were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and covered more than 630 acres in Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance. Daniel Burnham oversaw the construction of nearly 200 new buildings for the fair, most of which were designed in the Beaux-Arts style. 27 million people visited the exhibition halls which displayed inventions in fields as diverse as mining, agriculture, and the liberal arts. Additional attractions included the world’s first ferris wheel, daily concerts by John Philip Sousa’s concert band, lectures delivered by Eadweard Muybridge, belly dancers on a simulated “Street of Cairo”, Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show, and the Viking, a replica of the Norwegian Gokstad ship. It was also at the fair that the public was introduced to Juicy Fruit gum, Quaker Oats, Hershey’s chocolate, the hamburger, and electric light, which illuminated the grounds and helped to garner them the title "The White City."

From the guide to the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893. Records, 1893, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)

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