Qualla: World's Columbian Exposition

World's Columbian Exposition: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit C. D. Arnold (1844-1927); H. D. Higinbotham, Public domain. The original Ferris wheel stood 264 feet tall, carried 2,160 passengers at a time, and existed for exactly one purpose: to out-engineer the Eiffel Tower. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. built it for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a six-month spectacle so ambitious it reshaped American architecture, settled the war between alternating and direct current, introduced the word "midway" to the English language, and ended with the assassination of Chicago's mayor. The fair occupied Jackson Park on the South Side, where Frederick Law Olmsted transformed swampland into a dreamscape of neoclassical buildings, canals, and lagoons. Twenty-seven million people visited between May and October of 1893. Almost every structure was temporary - built of plaster, cement, and jute fiber painted white. The White City, as it was called, vanished. But the ideas it planted still shape how American cities look.

Image: C. D. Arnold (1844-1927); H. D. Higinbotham | Public domain

World's Columbian Exposition: Winning the Prize

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The fair was conceived to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the New World, and competition for hosting rights was fierce. New York financiers J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and William Waldorf Astor pledged $15 million if Congress chose New York. Chicag...

Image: Public domain

World's Columbian Exposition: The War of the Currents

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The effort to illuminate the fair became a battleground in the struggle between Thomas Edison's direct current and George Westinghouse's alternating current. Edison General Electric bid $1.72 million to power the fair's 93,000 incandescent lamps with DC. Westinghouse partnered wi...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

World's Columbian Exposition: The Midway and Its Marvels

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kilburn, B. W. (Benjamin West), 1827-1909 -- Photographer, Public domain. The Columbian Exposition was the first world's fair to separate its amusement zone from its exhibition halls. Sol Bloom, a young music promoter, developed the Midway Plaisance into a carnival strip that gave American English the word "midway." The centerpiece was Ferris's great w...

Image: Kilburn, B. W. (Benjamin West), 1827-1909 -- Photographer | Public domain

World's Columbian Exposition: The City Beautiful

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit SPUI, Public domain. The fair's neoclassical buildings were temporary - facades of white stucco over staff, a mixture of plaster and jute fiber. But their effect on American architecture was permanent. The gleaming Court of Honor, the integrated design of landscapes, promenades, and structures, the g...

Image: SPUI | Public domain

World's Columbian Exposition: A Violent End, A Lasting Shadow

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ross Dunn, Public domain. On October 28, 1893, two days before the fair was to close, Chicago mayor Carter Harrison was assassinated by Patrick Eugene Prendergast. Closing ceremonies were canceled and replaced with a public memorial. Jackson Park returned to being a public park, vastly improved from its o...

Image: Ross Dunn | Public domain