America at the Fair Read online

  America at the Fair:

  Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

  Chaim M. Rosenberg

  Copyright © 2008 by Chaim M. Rosenberg

  9781439614136

  Published by Arcadia Publishing,

  Charleston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA

  Printed in the United States

  Library of Congress control number: 2007935869

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  FOREWORD

  INTRODUCTION

  1. EIGHTEEN NINETY-THREE

  2. FROM CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS TO CHICAGO

  3. FROM VILLAGE TO METROPOLIS

  4. THE WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION

  5. ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNMENT

  6. MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING

  7. AGRICULTURAL BUILDING

  8. ELECTRICAL BUILDING

  9. TRANSPORTATION BUILDING

  10. MACHINERY HALL

  11. MINING, FISHERIES, HORTICULTURE, SHOES, LIVESTOCK, AND FORESTRY

  12. FREESTANDING PAVILIONS

  13. EXHIBITING NATIONS

  14. LOFTY THOUGHTS AND LOW DOWN FUN

  15. FIN DE SIÈCLE AND BEYOND

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  REFERENCES

  INDEX

  FOREWORD

  The surviving photographs of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 capture in stunning detail the grandeur of this greatest of all American world’s fairs. Carefully composed to promote the fair and attract visitors from around the world, images of the main fairgrounds reveal gleaming white edifices reflected in serene lagoons, massive buildings covered with intricate ornamentation, and stately streets lined with fountains and sculpture. Jutting west from the main fairgrounds was a one-mile-long combination anthropology exhibit and amusement park known as the Midway Plaisance. Photographs of the Midway and its denizens reveal a kaleidoscope of exotic structures placed cheek by jowl, throngs of people straining to see and hear and smell the colorful parade of humanity on display, and a towering, revolving wheel pressed against the sky.

  For six months from May through October, the Columbian Exposition dominated Chicago. Called the “White City” for the uniform marble-like finish applied to its buildings’ plaster facades, the 628-acre fairgrounds in Jackson Park were heralded as a tremendous aesthetic triumph for Chicago and America and were celebrated as a model for a new kind of city. Calling on Frederick Law Olmsted to design the grounds and a host of American architects to create the buildings, Director of Works Daniel H. Burnham ensured that the Columbian Exposition embodied beauty, symmetry, and harmony, qualities that made a visit to the fair a breathtaking and memorable experience.

  But these surviving photographs, however captivating and powerful they may be, do not reveal one of the most salient aspects of the fair—its unabashed celebration of consumption. The first world’s fair, The Exhibition of Works of Industry of All Nations of 1851 and its fabled Crystal Palace in London’s Hyde Park, stressed displays of industrial equipment and processes as the ultimate measure of human development. The 1855 Paris Exposition Universelle, however, dramatically shifted the focus of fairs from production to consumption and made the products of industry the index of world progress. Paris highlighted its own luxury goods and established through four successive and successful world’s fairs—1855, 1867, 1878, and 1889—exposition standards that defined all future fairs. Drawing on Paris expositions for guidance and inspiration, the organizers of the White City created the 19th century’s largest and most significant display of consumption ever imagined. Indeed, if the landscaping and architecture of the Columbian Exposition announced a new urban world, then the thousands of products displayed inside the buildings represented a new world of goods.

  Understanding the power and the impact of this display is difficult to fathom today—the daily bombardment of mail order catalogs, television commercials, billboards, and computer popups have numbed us to advertisers’ messages. But for fairgoers, it was a source of national pride. And because precious few photographs recorded the exhibitors and their products, this aspect of the history of the exposition remains elusive and seems ever more remote.

  This new addition to the history of the Columbian Exposition by Chaim M. Rosenberg seeks to rectify this omission with a new and fresh perspective on the fair. Using lithographic trade cards and artistic renderings—which were among the most prolific and popular ways to promote one’s business and products—to reveal the vast treasures exhibited at the fair, America at the Fair takes us into the world of goods that dominated the lives of 19th century Americans and shaped their ideas of what the future might hold. Millions of visitors kept these trade cards as mementos of their trip to Chicago and the fair and their confidence in the nation. I congratulate Chaim Rosenberg on this delightful and highly informative study, which adds a valuable perspective on the fair.

  Russell Lewis

  Executive Vice President and Chief Historian

  Chicago History Museum

  INTRODUCTION

  The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was held at a pivotal time in the history of the United States. The country had expanded to the west and south to develop a nationwide economy. It was the Gilded Age of great power and wealth and extravagant spending of the few. Cities were growing rapidly, railroads criss-crossed the country, and countless thousands toiled in the factories, on the farms, and in the mines. Hundreds of smaller companies were merging into trusts and giant corporations. After the Civil War, the combination of America’s fertile soil, its mineral wealth, and the innovation of its people created spectacular growth. America had looked to England, France, and Germany for guidance in style, art, and science, but now the brash and confident young nation was leaping ahead of its European competitors. America would rightfully claim the 20th century as its own.

  The 1893 Chicago Fair, held from May 1 to October 30, generated a great deal of interest. Countless books were written between 1892 and 1900 describing its wonders. I purchased many of these books to better understand how commentators at the time viewed this event. Many books were 600 pages or more, describing aspects of the Fair in exquisite detail. The official publications of the various states described their advantages and achievements and listed their exhibiting companies and even the names of the people who made contributions. The books lavished praise on the city of Chicago and on the extravagant buildings on the fairgrounds facing Lake Michigan. One of my favorites among these books is the Guide to the World’s Columbian Exposition in a Nut-shell, printed in 1893. This pocket-sized, soft-covered book was prepared by the Merchants’ World’s Fair Bureau of the Information Company, 21 Quincy Street, Chicago. The book cost 25¢ and listed the Fair’s major events and attractions. It described the various buildings with recommendations about what to see during a busy seven-day visit. The book I have was originally owned by one Aaron T. Otageman, a resident of Chicago. During his visits to the Fair, Otageman checked off the various exhibits he had visited. He was interested in the power plant and the boiler house, and enjoyed the livestock exhibit and the log cabin. He spent a lot of time in the Agricultural, Machinery, and Transportation Buildings. He admired the American statuary and studied the exhibits in the Mines and Mining Building. He apparently did not have the time or inclination to see the state pavilions or visit the Midway
Plaisance.

  The Fair was filled by some 65,000 exhibitors who displayed over 250,000 separate objects, ranging from huge steam locomotives and massive turbines to exquisite silk-weaving and hand-worked pottery. Each visitor could find his or her favorites. Standardized mass-produced objects were displayed alongside the works of craftsmen and artists. America’s intellectual and cultural ambitions were on show, as were the exotic crowd of acrobats, magicians, belly dancers, snake charmers, strongmen, and Wild West sharpshooters. The world’s first religious conference as well as the first congress for American socialists took place under the auspices of the World’s Columbian Exposition. The Fair was a source of great pride to the United States and to Chicago. Above patriotism, enlightenment, and fun, the Exposition was a commercial venture. Millions of dollars were borrowed and the nation’s foremost architects hired to build the greatest of all fairs. Not only was the money repaid but the Fair even made a profit. Thousands of American companies, most of the states, and many foreign countries participated in the hope of selling their merchandise.

  The 1893 Fair took place during a period of immense change in America and the world at large. The horse and buggy shared the streets with trolleys, and most towns of any size were linked by railroads. Few at the time, however, foresaw the coming of the automobile age. Water power and then steam power drove the industrial revolution, but electricity and the internal combustion engine would soon take their place. This was the first Fair in which electricity took so prominent a place. The telegraph that had dominated communication for most of the 19th century was giving way to the telephone. The Panic of 1893 and the depression that began soon after the Fair opened, cast doubt on American industrial might, but by 1897 America was again bold and expansive. At that time Britain became mired in the Anglo-Boer war and the European powers were blinded by nationalism, while America was emerging as the world’s leading economy. Regional economies were giving way to a nationwide consumer society, based on credit and extended payment schemes. This was the era of large business failures, consolidation, and the emergence of the giant corporations.

  The picture books published about the World’s Columbian Exposition show the great buildings, the Ferris Wheel, and the exotic sights of the Midway Plaisance, but say relatively little about the tens of thousands of industrial companies and the goods they displayed. This book will discuss what was exhibited in and out of the buildings rather than describe the vast exhibition halls, flamboyant and impressive though they were.

  The Fair took place at the end of the era of lithographic trade cards (1870–1900). Lithography was invented in Europe at the close of the 18th century and involved the use of acid to burn images on smooth, flat pieces of limestone. (Lithos is the Greek word for stone.) By the middle of the 19th century lithography was enhanced by the use of color, a process called chromo-lithography. These advances in color printing were brought to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. In Boston, the brothers John and William Pendleton in 1824 set up a business making lithographic images of the first five American presidents. Lithography was applied to map making, portraits of stately homes, book illustrations, and then to advertising (Pierce & Slautterbuck 1991). Hundreds of lithographic companies, mainly in the large cities, were producing trade cards to advertise goods offered for sale. Staffed by artists of skill, these companies drew cards that displayed the product and gave information about the company—its location, the uniqueness of the product, address, price of the goods, and names of agents. I have chosen to illustrate this book using lithographic trade cards and artistic renderings. The trade cards, many of which were designed especially for the Fair, were given out to visitors in the hope that they would buy the product. Starting early in the 20th century lithographic companies steadily lost out to newspaper and magazine advertising, and the use of trade cards declined. In their time these colorful cards were assiduously collected as a hobby and pasted into albums. As the years rolled by these albums were forgotten and collected dust in attics and basements. At the close of the 20th century, the albums were rediscovered and became popular as collector’s items. The trade cards they contain tell us a good deal about what was made and what was sold in America during the last third of the 19th century.

  Millions of people traveled to Chicago to see for themselves the wonders of the 1893 Fair. The locals arrived by streetcar or on one of the steam ferries leaving from the port of Chicago. Others arrived by train to see the great new city of Chicago and its wondrous Fair that excited interest at many levels. The highbrow enjoyed the concerts and art exhibitions. The seriousminded attended the many conferences, and the scientifically-minded were dazzled by the electrical display, the steam engines, and the locomotives. Most people came to enjoy the gardens, eat at the restaurants, admire the buildings, walk along the Midway Plaisance, and ride the Ferris Wheel. At a time when few could afford leisure travel abroad, the Fair offered Americans a chance to gaze upon the wonders of South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa as displayed in the foreign pavilions.

  The World’s Columbian Exposition was a creation of its time. At the close of the 19th century infectious diseases still shortened lives. Women did not have the vote and, despite the lessons of the Civil War, blacks were still segregated. It was the age of imperialism and the domination of Europe, with the United States just emerging as a world power. Horses were extensively used in the fields and for local transport. Small tools were turned by hand and farm implements were powered by horses. Steam power drove the factories, the locomotives, and the ships. Electricity and fossil fuels were beginning to be used as sources of power. In this work I have chosen to view the Fair in the context of its time, rather than making comparisons with our lives today. By illustrating the book with the colorful trade cards actually given out at the Fair, I hope to capture the excitement of that distant time.

  In order to avoid the repeated use of “The World’s Columbian Exposition” in the text, I have mostly referred to it simply as the Fair.

  1. EIGHTEEN NINETY-THREE

  During the summer of 1893, Katharine Lee Bates, an instructor of English at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, journeyed from Boston to visit the Midwest and the Fair on her way to Pike’s Peak in Colorado. She was so moved by the prairies, the mountains, the new cities, and the optimism of the people, that she wrote her poem “America the Beautiful.” This universally loved hymn and America’s second anthem mentions the Fair in the line “Thine alabaster cities gleam” and begins with the following lines:

  O beautiful for spacious skies,

  For amber waves of grain,

  For purple mountain majesties

  Above the fruited plain!

  America! America!

  God shed His grace on thee

  And crown thy good with brotherhood

  From sea to shining sea!

  Grover Cleveland’s Two Terms

  On March 4, 1893, Stephen Grover Cleveland, standing before Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, took the oath of office to serve as the 24th president of the United States. His vice president was Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois. In the presidential election the year before, Cleveland beat his rival by receiving 46.1 percent of the popular vote against Benjamin Harrison’s 43 percent. (The People’s and Prohibition Parties took the remaining votes.) Cleveland received 277 electoral votes to Harrison’s 145.

  In his inaugural address Cleveland promised to dedicate himself to the service of the people. He spoke of the pride of Americans in “the growth and expansion of our country” and its “robust health.” He warned against corruption, excessive spending, and the waste of public funds. He spoke in favor of a strong and stable currency and against the powerful business interests that demanded protection, while stifling competition through secret price-fixing. The people are better served, Cleveland said, through tariff reform and “the benefit of cheapness which usually results from wholesale competition.”

  Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the Uni
ted States. He served separate terms from 1885–1889 and again from 1893–1897. Cleveland officially opened the World’s Columbian Exposition on May 1, 1893. The Panic of 1893 began soon after the Fair opened.

  Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, on March 18, 1837, the fifth of nine children born to a poor Presbyterian minister. Reverend Cleveland later took his family to Fayetteville and Clinton in central New York state, where he ministered until his death when Grover was 16 years old. Young Cleveland moved to New York City, where he worked briefly as a teacher at the Institute for the Blind. He traveled west to Buffalo in search of opportunity and found work as a clerk in a law office, earning $4 a week. He never attended college but was able and ambitious. Within two years he completed his clerkship and was admitted to the bar, with a salary of $1,000 a year. Cleveland quickly made a name for himself in Buffalo. At age 26 he was chosen assistant district attorney for Erie County and seven years later was elected sheriff. At age 44 he was elected mayor of Buffalo and showed a steely resolve against pork-barrel spending and corruption.

  From mayor of Buffalo, “Big Steve” Cleveland moved up to governor of New York. In the 1884 presidential election, the corpulent Cleveland was chosen to run as the Democratic Party presidential candidate against the Republican Party’s James G. Blaine. In a closely-fought election, involving the then 38 states in the Union, Cleveland won the popular vote by a mere 29,214 out of the 10,055,539 votes cast, but handily won the electoral college by 219 votes to 182. At age 47, Grover Cleveland became the 22nd president of the United States on a platform of tariff reduction and controlled spending.

  In the 1888 election he was up against the business interests backing the Republican nominee, Benjamin Harrison. High tariffs advocated by Republican administrations were aimed at protecting American industry against imports and had become the major source of revenue for the government (Morris 1979). Cleveland favored a reduction in tariff barriers, arguing that reliance on high duties reduced competition and kept prices high. Cleveland won the popular vote (48.6 percent against 47.9 percent) but, having lost the key states of New York and Indiana, he was defeated in the electoral college vote (Cleveland received 168 to Harrison’s 233). In the 1892 election the major parties again fielded Cleveland and Harrison. This time, the Republican Party’s advocacy of high tariffs and support for temperance alienated working people who turned back to the Democratic Party. Cleveland was the only president ever to serve two non-consecutive terms.