America at the Fair Read online

  Sheet music for the “World’s Exposition Grand March,” composed by Victor Vogel for violin, cornet, and piano, sold for 60¢.

  The main buildings at the Fair had coffee houses, lunch rooms, or restaurants. The many concessions including the French Bakery, the Japanese Tea House, The Polish Café, and the New England Clam Bake restaurant. An estimated 60,000 visitors could be fed at one time. The Fair was well equipped with toilet facilities, some for free and some charging 5¢. A person who was handicapped, elderly, or simply tired could rent a rolling chair with a guide at a cost of 75¢ an hour or $6 for the whole day. If pushed by a companion the cost for a chair was reduced to 40¢ an hour.

  The entry fee into the fairgrounds was 50¢ for an adult and 25¢ for children below the age of 12, while children below age six entered free. A ride on the Ferris Wheel cost 50¢, a visit to Blarney Castle 35¢, and the shows on Cairo Street $1 per person. Visiting all the attractions on the Midway Plaisance would cost over $13 for each person, not counting the expense of food and travel. At the time of the Fair laborers were earning $1 to $1.50 per day, industrial workers $500 a year, and highly skilled workers up to $1,000 a year. It was very expensive for a family to spend a day at the Fair. Nonetheless, millions came believing this to be the experience of a lifetime and well worth the cost.

  On opening day the Fair attracted 128,965 visitors. The Fair got off to a slow start with a total attendance in May of only 1.5 million. Attendance picked up month by month. In July four million came, and in September nearly six million. October, the last month, was by far the busiest, averaging some 300,000 per day, with a total for the month of seven million. Special events attracted larger crowds. Illinois Day (August 24) attracted 244,000 people. Chicago Day (October 9) was the busiest with 716,881 paying the admission price and an additional 37,000 gaining free entry. The nearly three-quarter million who came on Chicago Day exceeded the attendance of any single event in history. By comparison, the busiest day at the 1876 Centennial Exposition was a mere 257,590 and the Paris Exposition of 1889 only 397,000. Half the population of Chicago came to Jackson Park on that day to celebrate their young city and its great Fair. The total attendance from May 1 to October 30 was 27,529,400, with some 22 million who paid admission and 5.5 million who had free tickets. Attendance fell because of the death of the mayor on October 28 and the cancellation of the grand closing ceremony. In the final tally, Chicago fell short of the 1889 Paris Exposition, which attracted 28,149,353 people but was open a month longer.

  5. ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNMENT

  The architectural gem of the World’s Columbian Exposition was the Administration Building. Its glittering dome, coated with aluminum bronze, reached 275 feet into the sky. The building had four attached pavilions, each with an entrance 50 feet high and 50 feet wide. These doors were kept open to permit a steady stream of visitors to admire the art within. The building was situated between the Manufactures and Agricultural Buildings and faced the Grand Basin. The Administration Building was the inspiration of the doyen of American architects, Richard Morris Hunt. He was born in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1828, moved to Paris at age 15 to study at the École des Beaux-Arts, the first of many American architects and artists to seek inspiration in France. After several years abroad, he settled in New York, determined to influence the architecture of his homeland. He designed the 1873 Tribune building in New York, the Fogg Museum at Harvard, and the façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Hunt was the architect of choice of America’s wealthiest families, especially the Vanderbilts and the Astors. He designed The Breakers, Belcourt Castle, Chateau-Sur-Mer, and other Gilded Age homes in Newport, Rhode Island. He was also the architect for Biltmore House, the enormous mansion for George Washington Vanderbilt II near Asheville, North Carolina.

  Hunt was president of the American Society of Architects and inspired many of America’s up-and-coming architects. At first he was reluctant to get involved because the buildings would be temporary and were scheduled for demolition at the end of the Fair. Swayed by appeals to his patriotism, Hunt agreed to design the Administration Building, which is regarded as his masterpiece.

  The interior of the central dome of the Administration Building was octagonal in shape and decorated in gilded letters with the names of the nations participating at the Fair. There were also paintings commemorating the great discoveries of the ages, including the mariner’s compass, gunpowder, and the printing press. Copernicus was shown explaining his theory of the solar system, Isaac Newton the laws of gravity, Watt his steam engine, Jenner the principals of vaccination, and Morse with the electric telegraph. The names of the great men of history including Plato, Descartes, Humboldt, Agassiz, Franklin, Archimedes, Faraday, Volta, and Darwin were inscribed on the walls. In the area under the dome stood sculptures heralding the major themes of the 19th century; namely, commerce, industry, justice, religion, war and peace, science and art, truth and charity, and liberty and patriotism. The four pavilions connected to the central dome of the Administration Building were used in the daily management of the Fair. Here were the offices of Harlow Higinbotham, George Davis, Mrs. Potter Palmer, and other senior officials, the telegraph services, customs department, bureau of information, facilities for the press, and the headquarters of the World Fair police force, the Columbian Guard. The building was the center of Exposition activities. A statue of Christopher Columbus stood at the main entrance.

  The Columbian Fountain was designed by Frederick William MacMonnies, a Brooklyn-born expatriate living in Paris.

  At the western end of the Grand Basin facing the Administration Building was the Columbian Fountain, the best known sculpture of the Fair, also known as the MacMonnies Fountain. Frederick William MacMonnies, born in Brooklyn in 1863, showed his artistic talent early in his life. He was the studio assistant to Augustus Saint-Gaudens before moving to Paris in 1884 to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. MacMonnies settled in Paris, where he worked on commissions mainly from wealthy American visitors. When Saint-Gaudens was appointed artistic director to the Fair, he asked MacMonnies to join him and design its principal sculpture work. The highly ornate MacMonnies Fountain shows the seated Columbia on her triumphal barge of state, guided by Father Time and rowed by four maidens representing Music, Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture on the right side, and four more representing Agriculture, Science, Industry, and Commerce on the left. In front of the barge were eight sea-horses each mounted by a young man, representing progress through commerce and industry. Dolphins and mermaids surrounded the barge. The base of the statue was 150 feet in diameter. Hundreds of jets threw water high into the air before cascading over the barge and the figures. At night, the MacMonnies Fountain was lit by electricity and quickly became a favorite meeting point for visitors. MacMonnies was married to the American artist Mary Louise Fairchild, whose paintings were displayed in the Womens Building. Frederick MacMonnies lived in France until the outbreak of World War I, when he returned to New York to continue his fashionable career. He died in 1937. Daniel Chester French (1850–1931) designed the 65-foot tall Statue of the Republic, with arms held upward holding a globe with a mounted eagle in the right hand, and the flag of state in the left. The immense statue stood with its back to the Peristyle and faced the MacMonnies Fountain across the Grand Basin.

  The imposing Government Building was 415 feet in length and 345 feet wide with a large dome, similar to the National Museum in Washington. The early design for the building was done by the 27-year-old John Torrey Windrim (1866–1934) while serving as the chief government architect. Windrim came from an illustrious Philadelphia family. His father, James Hamilton Windrim, designed the Agriculture Building for the 1876 Centennial Exposition. The U.S. Government Building at the Chicago Fair was completed by W. J. Edbrooke, who was appointed supervising architect by President Benjamin Harrison to succeed John Windrim. W. J. Edbrooke was responsible for the design of many other government buildings across the nation, including the courthouses in Sioux Falls, S
outh Dakota and Richmond, Kentucky. The Government Building stood to the north of the Manufactures Building, with the lagoon to the west and Lake Michigan to the east.

  The Government Building displayed the activities and responsibilities of the federal government and the progress of America during the 19th century. The Department of Agriculture showed large maps of the vegetable and mineral resources of the nation, as well as regions of volcanoes, earthquakes, and glaciers. The department of anthropology portrayed the lives and habits of Native Americans, the evolution of mankind, and the characteristics of the principal human races. There were also exhibits of American fauna. The Smithsonian Institution displayed 133 different kinds of hummingbirds, as well as papier-mâché models of buffalo, moose, mountain goats, deer, walrus, seals, and sea lions, all of which were being hunted to extinction. One exhibit showed the restraint of the Eskimo and other Native Americans in killing only for their needs, in contrast to the wanton destruction of nature by “civilized man” using firearms. The U.S. Fish Commission displayed an Alaskan fishing village in miniature, complete with a fish hatchery station and deep-sea dredging equipment. The War Department had a display of the tools of war, including a huge cannon that weighed 110,000 pounds, was 33 feet long, and had a range of 10 miles.

  The United States Government Building was designed by John Torrey Windrim and W. J. Edbrooke. This postcard also shows President Grover Cleveland.

  The Illinois was a full-size concrete and wood copy of the type of battleships then being built for the U. S. Navy. The “ship” was part of the U. S. naval exhibition and sat on the floor of Lake Michigan at the North Inlet.

  Good old Yankee ingenuity was the theme of the patent office exhibit, showing the evolution of machinery. There were examples of early power looms that revolutionized the textile industry. Elia Howe’s first sewing machine from 1846 was displayed alongside newer and more efficient machines. William Austin Burt’s original 1829 typewriter was shown next to the Remington machine of 1874, and Cyrus McCormick’s first harvester, dated 1831, was also displayed. Another Smithsonian exhibit in the Government Building showed portraits of the pioneers of electricity from Michael Faraday and Samuel Morse to Thomas Edison, Elihu Thompson, and Edwin Houston.

  The American Philatelic Association (APA) displayed a comprehensive collection of American and foreign postage stamps in the gallery of the Government Building. The APA was organized in 1886 and incorporated in 1892, with offices in New York. Its founding president was John Kerr Tiffany (1842–1897), a St. Louis businessman who started his stamp collection while in Paris as a student. He built one of the premier American stamp collections and wrote several books on philately. On his death, Tiffany’s collection was acquired by the British Museum. At the time of the Fair, the APA had over 500 members, some of whom displayed the best of their collections. The exhibition contained examples of virtually all the stamps ever issued by the U.S. postmaster, including an entire sheet of one hundred 1¢ stamps from 1857. There were stamps from the Confederate States of America and envelopes showing the face of Jefferson Davis and the Confederate flag. There was an extensive showing of British North America stamps (Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland), as well as stamps from Mexico and the Caribbean islands, Europe, Asia, South America, and South Africa (Official Catalogue, Postage Stamp Exhibit 1893).

  Docked on Lake Michigan at the North Inlet, close by the U.S. Government Building, was the battleship Illinois. In fact, no such ship existed at the time. The ship-like structure, sitting on the floor of the lake, was part of the United States naval exhibit. It was built of brick and concrete, with its main guns fashioned from wood. The Illinois was a full-size copy, above the waterline, of the pride of the U.S. Navy, the Indiana, the Massachusetts, and the Oregon, identical battleships ordered in 1890. Each of these authentic battleships measured 348 feet in length with a displacement of 10,000 tons. The U.S.S. Indiana was launched in February 1893. Five years later, she formed part of the squadron that blockaded Havana harbor at the start of the Spanish-American War. The catalyst for the war was the explosion on February 15, 1898 that destroyed the U.S.S. Maine, with a loss of 266 lives. The rallying cry “Remember the Maine, to hell with Spain” reverberated across the nation. On July 3, 1898 the Indiana saw action against the Spanish fleet off the Cuban coast, a battle that brought the war to an end.

  A real battleship Illinois was commissioned in 1897 from the shipyards at Newport News, Virginia. The 375-foot-long Illinois was the U.S. Navy’s seventh battleship and carried 40 officers and 496 enlisted men.

  6. MANUFACTURES AND LIBERAL ARTS BUILDING

  The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, at 1,687 feet long and 787 feet wide—the largest structure in the world at the time—contained 44 acres of exhibits. The honor of designing the Manufactures Building was given to George B. Post (1837–1913). Post studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and on his return to New York, he established himself as one of America’s leading architects. He designed Chickering Hall, a concert hall, and also the showrooms for the Boston-based piano company Chickering & Sons. Post has been called the “Father of the American Skyscraper.” He designed the Equitable Life Assurance Building, the first to use elevators, followed in 1890 by the World Building, which at 20 stories was New York’s tallest. Post was the architect for the New York Stock Exchange building, the Troy Savings Bank and Music Hall, the New York Hospital, and the Wisconsin State Capitol, as well as many distinguished houses, including several of the “cottages” in Newport, Rhode Island.

  Contemporary writers marveled at the size of the Manufactures Building. The building was inspired by the Palais de l’Industrie built for the Paris Exposition of 1855 (Landau 1998). It was three times as large as the Cathedral of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and 20 times as large as the Auditorium, then downtown Chicago’s most prominent building. Six baseball fields could fit into the floor space. The whole Russian standing army or “the entire population of the city of St. Louis could sit in chairs upon it” (Artistic Guide to Chicago 1892). A walk around the mammoth structure was a mile long. Thirty-five thousand electric bulbs were used to light up the building. The floor level of the Manufactures Building, built in the Corinthian style with elaborate columns and arches, was linked to the gallery above by no less than 30 staircases. The main thoroughfare, called Columbia Avenue, passed between the exhibits to the left and to the right.

  Most of the countries of Europe and several from South America, as well as Japan, India, Siam, and Persia had exhibits on the ground floor of the Manufactures Building. These nations displayed their culture and history as well as their creativity. Italy showed its artistic skills in marble and bronze statuary, Florentine mosaics, and silk fabrics. Switzerland brought its scientific instruments and Norway its silverware. The Danes recreated the room in which Hans Christian Andersen wrote his children’s books. Great Britain showed the 1784 silver service owned by the Earl of Airlie, as well as its textile fabrics and pottery. The Chinese exhibit featured a pagoda, a teadrinking booth, and fireworks. Russia displayed the Czar’s pottery collection and Japan its ancient vases and elegant lacquer work.

  Facing Lake Michigan, the Manufactures Building was designed by George B. Post. Thousands of American and foreign companies displayed their goods in the building, the world’s largest structure at that time.

  The Official Directory (Handy 1893) lists several thousand American companies with exhibits in the Manufactures Building. The exhibits were arranged in 34 categories that included pharmaceuticals, paints, typewriters, stationery, furniture, ceramics, glassware, stained glass, gold and silverware, jewelry and ornamentation, watches and clocks, silk, cotton and woolen fabrics, clothing, furs, travel equipment, rubber goods, toys, leather goods, measuring devices, materials of war, lighting, heating and cooling appliances, wire, wrought iron, vaults, tools, cutlery, and plumbing materials. In the steam motors section alone, the Crane Elevator Company of Chicago; United States Wind Machine of Batavia,
Ohio; American Fire Engine of Seneca Falls, New York; and the Fire Extinguisher Manufacturing Company of Chicago showed their wares. Acme Machinery of Cleveland demonstrated machine tools, Edward Allis of Milwaukee exhibited woodworking machinery, and the Avery & Burton Company of Chicago showed its printing machinery. In 1893, the Northeast still dominated in manufacturing, with New England especially strong in textiles and footwear. The Midwest was rapidly catching up, and already was the leader in agricultural machinery.