The White City — Chicago World's Fair (1893)
27 million visitors in six months. Nearly half of America passed through. The stage where the Gilded Age showed itself to the world — the story of the White City.
400 Years After Columbus
- The 400th anniversary of Columbus reaching America (one year late).
New York, Washington, St. Louis, and Chicago competed to host the fair. In 1890, Congress chose Chicago. To the East Coast's amusement.
Chicago was then known as "the city of slaughterhouses." Just 22 years had passed since the Great Fire of 1871 burned half the city to ashes. Chicago staked its pride on this fair.
The White City
Lead architect: Daniel Burnham.
A swampy lakeshore was filled in. Two hundred massive buildings rose. Every façade was finished in pure white plaster. At night, tens of thousands of newly invented electric bulbs illuminated the structures.
American cities were dark in those days. Gas lamps were dim. Electricity was a luxury for the wealthy.
Visitors saw large-scale electric lighting for the first time in their lives. Some wept. Some asked, "Is this what heaven looks like?"
Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse's alternating current (AC) powered the entire fair. It was the moment Edison's direct current lost the war.
First Sightings
The fair was a showcase of American firsts.
- Ferris Wheel — 264 feet tall, the original
- The zipper
- Cracker Jack
- Juicy Fruit gum
- Cream of Wheat cereal
- Belly dancing — "Little Egypt" shocked America
- The automatic dishwasher
- The moving walkway
Much of modern American pop culture was born here.
The Dark Side
Beside the dazzling exhibits, serial killer H.H. Holmes operated.
He built a hotel near the fairgrounds — a "Murder Castle" with secret passages, gas chambers, and body disposal rooms. Visitors who vanished during the fair died there. He confessed to 27 murders; estimates ran as high as 200.
The fair compressed all of the Gilded Age into one place. Light and shadow. Progress and savagery. Side by side.
End and Legacy
October 30. Days before closing, Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison was assassinated.
After the closing, the fairgrounds burned in mysterious fires. The White City lasted only six months.
But its influence was permanent.
- City Beautiful movement: shaped Washington D.C., San Francisco, New York urban planning
- Birth of the amusement park industry
- Spread of the national park concept
- Walt Disney's father Elias Disney worked construction at the fair — the inspiration for Disneyland's "Main Street, U.S.A." came from here
Held: May–October 1893 | Area: 690 acres | Visitors: 27 million (U.S. population was 65 million) | Buildings: ~200 | Cost: $28 million (about $900 million today)
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