WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSI TION. an international exposition held in Chicago, Ill., in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus.
History.— The fitness of some special cele bration of the discovery of America bad been rt•cognozed and the question agitated several the bill providing for a Columbian l ro Exposition was introduced in Congress in 1889. Several cities urged their claims for the site of the exposition; chief among them were New York, Chicago, Washington and Saint Louis; Chicago was finally chosen as the site and the bill passed and approved 25 April 1890. The organization of the fair was placed under the charge of an Illinois corporation previously or ganized, and the World's Columbian Commis sion, a national commission consisting of dele gates appointed two from each State and Terri tory, two from the District of Columbia and eight at large. The work of construction was placed under the charge of a Bureau of Con struction, of which H. Burnham was chief ; work was begun on the first building in July 1891. On 23 Oct. 1892 the buildings were formally dedicated by the Vice-President of the United States; the dedication ceremony, which was attended by 130,000 people, was held in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts The exposition was formally opened 1 May 1893 by President Cleveland; at the moment when be declared the fair open the flags of the various nations were unfurled, the electric foun tain., turned on, and the statue of •The Repub lic• unveiled. The attendance at the fair was 27,539,041, of which 21,479,661 were paid ad missions; the days showing the largest attend ance were 9 October, Chicago Day, and 4 July, American Independence Day; thi Average daily attendance was 172,712 The exposition was formally closed 30 October.
The bill providing for the expo sition required the city of Chicago to raise $10.000,000 toward the expenses; later Congress provided for the gift of a special mintage of $2,500,000 in souvenir half-dollars, the exposi tion authorities also issued $5.000,000 worth of debenture bonds; about $3,000,000 additional were received from other miscellaneous sources, so that about $20,000,000 was available before the opening; the total expenditures for the fair were over $31,000,000, and the profits about $1,850,000. The United States government ap propriated $2250,000 to its exhibits, the States $6,060,350, the foreign governments $5,1‘30,000, and over $350,000 was invested in the Midway Plaisanoe.
Buildings and Principal site chosen for the exposition was Jackson Park, a portion of the South Park system of Chicago; tt covered 666 acres and extended about two miles along the shore of Lake Michigan. There were about 150 buildings erected; the more im portant were built of the material called "staff,' a composition of plaster of Paris and jute fibre, which produced the general effect of white mar ble, hence the exposition grounds became generally known as the White City. The Manu factures and Liberal Arts Building faced the lake near the eastern end of the basin; this was the largest building ever constructed for an exposition; it covered nearly 31 acres; the main roof was of iron and glass. At the head of the basin was the Administration Building, with its gilded dome; near this were the Agri cultural Building. Machinery Hall, and the Elec
trical and Mining Building. On the west of the lagoon were the Transportation Building and Horticultural Hall, and on the east the Govern ment Building, with a large dome 150 feet high; at the northwestern end of the lagoon was the Woman's Building, and at the northeastern end the Fisheries Building. Still further to the r.orth were the State buildings, many of the foreign nations' exhibits, and the Fine Arts Building. The Fine Arts Building was an ex ample of purely classical architecture; it was entered by four richly ornamented portals. The State and foreign nations buildings were in many cases copies of some characteristic historic building or type; as, for example. Virginia's building was modeled on Washing ton's Mount Vernon home. Massachusetts' was a copy of John Hancock's house; Eng land's represented a manor house of the time of Henry VIII, and Spain's the Convent of La Rabida. In the southern part of the grounds was the Forestry Building, built in the rustic style; the columns supporting the roof being made of tree trunks furnished by the different nations and the States and Territories of the United States. Near the Forestry Building were a number of the small exhibits, the Krupp exhibit, dairy. etc. The Manufactures and 1.Rs eral Arts Building included in its exhibits everything related to engineering, architecture. publishing, technical and domestic arts, together with education, the professions, music and the drama. The Fine Arts exhibit included many masterpieces of painting and sculpture, the Woman's Building containing a collection repre senting woman', work in all lines of activity; the Transportation Building's collection repre sented All rth,tle% of transportation from the must primitive to the most complete modern inventions of ocean steamers and locomotives; and the exhibits of the other special departments of human industry showed most excellently the progress of the race in each special industry.
Special Features.—Among the special fea tures of the exposition the Midway Plaisance was perhaps most interesting; on this were represented the villages of different nations and peoples, including the Irish village, the Javanese village, the Japanese bazaar, the Samoan and Dahomey villages, etc.; here also were the 'Street of Cairo,' and the various amusement features; and the Ferris wheel, 250 feet in diam eter, carrying 36 coaches. Other special exhibi tions of interest outside the main buildings were the reproduction of the cliff dwellers"buildings at Battle Rock Mountain, Colo.; the models of Columbus' three caravels, of the Viking ship, and of a modern United States battleship. An other interesting feature of the exposition was the numerous world's congresses held on the s under the auspices of the World's s Auxiliary. These congresses dis cussed the leading phases of professional, scientific, economic, educational and religious thought; the World's Parliament of Religions probably attracted the most general attention. Consult Johnson, Rossiter (ed ), 'History of the World's Columbian Exposition Held in Chicago in 1893) (4 vols., New York 1897 98).