City - Chicago, IL - The court of honour 1893 Magnet

Colourized photo from 1893 Original title: Fountains and the Grand Basin World's Columbian Exposition Photographer: Frances Benjamin Johnston Location: 6401 S Stony Island Ave Chicago, IL This is the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL, the fair was to celebrate Columbus finding America. It took 2 years to complete all the construction with the help of over 40,000 people. They had over 64,000 exhibits ranging from art, trades, lectures, it was basically a huge classy museum. It ran for only 6 months. They touted the fair as the "new era in the onward march of civilisation". They would advertise it like this, you have to come to see this fair, if you have to, sell your cook top! The fee was 50 cents a person, which is about $15 today. This particular section was known as the Court of Honour, other's called it White City, as all the Beaux-Arts style buildings were made of plaster or painted white, to look like marble. It's said that the creator of Wizard of Oz was inspired by this fair, and the city of Oz was made to look something like these structures. Katherine Lee Bates who composed the song "America the beautiful" even had a reference that came from this fair referring to the "alabaster" White City Gleaming, it was a reference to this fair. Note the gondola's and other boats, they would use these as a way to transport guests to the other side as a shortcut and a unique experience. The tall gold statue in the back was known as the Statue of the Republic, by itself it stood 65ft tall, and on its base it was a 100ft tall. It was composed of gilded plaster, and in its day was the second tallest statue in the nation, the newly built Statue of Liberty was the tallest. The Artist who designed and built it was Daniel Chester French, this statue at this show gave him brand recognition. He went on to design the Abe Lincoln statue for the Lincoln Memorial. The grand basin was 1000ft long and was a man made pool. You can see Lake Michigan just beyond the structure ahead, and just to the right they had an exhibit of moving sidewalks (you can see it on the right next to that domed building). On the right is a statue that honours Christopher Columbus, it was named the Grand Barge of the State and was designed by the artist known as MacMonnies. And one of those two buildings with the red domes, was the chocolate house, where they featured huge statues made of chocolate. Today, there is nothing at all left of any of this other than the water. Which eventually became a larger lake you know today. The fair was only designed to last 6 months, and other than the Science museum, not much of it exists. And that building only lasted because they used cement. Over the years there was a large fire in a cooling building, and arsonists torched quite a bit of this place. Where we stand now, is a 25ft bronze and gilded replica of the statue shown here. It stand on the other side of the park, about where we are viewing this.