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The Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893
This big ferris wheel was the main attraction of the Columbian Exposition.
You have never been to an anniversary party this huge. The Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 commemorated the four hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus arriving in America. For over six months the fair was up and running, and over 27 million people came to visit -- about half the US population of that time!
Imagine seeing a pyramid 38 feet high, 30,000 pounds of pure chocolate, or working beehives. These were some of the exhibits you would have found at the fair. You would have seen a booth with wool, dairy cows, and a 22,000 pound piece of Canadian cheese. There was also a huge ferris wheel that could carry 2,000 people at a time.
Another notable exhibit was the Anthropology booth. This showed wigwams and skin tents that the Chippawa and Eskimos would live in. It showed the Iroquois' long house and artifacts from Navajo, Apache, Cree, and many other cultures.
The Fine Arts exhibit was extraordinary. A gold medal was awarded to Winslow Homer's painting, A Great Gale, and there was a chapel of glass mosaic by Louis C. Tiffany. There was also architecture on exhibit from many countries of the world.
The newest scientific inventions were shown at the fair, and nations from all around the world displayed exhibits and sent people in native costumes. Artists and architects designed huge fairgrounds on the south side. They made snow white buildings that looked like those from ancient Rome and Greece. They planted beautiful flower gardens to decorate the fair.
Many famous people came to visit the Fair, including Jane Addams, Frederick Douglass, Scott Joplin, and many, many others. Everyone enjoyed the exhibits and entertainment.
This fair wasn't just to commemorate Columbus' arrival in America, but also to celebrate American culture. The fair was the end to a half century of quick change. In 1834 Chicago was only a muddy, dirty, trading post. Less then 60 years later it was one of the greatest cities in the world -- and the Chicago Columbian Exposition was the perfect way to show it off!
