The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was held in Chicago
to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the
new world. One of the reasons for the fair was an attempt to
bring together an American society ripped apart by the Civil
War (1861-1865), and the later industrial revolution and surge
in immigration that had spurred class violence.
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Those who were selected to construct the fair decided that
architecture and sculpture would be two great showcases
around which it would be developed. Many of the time’s great
sculptors and architects were recruited to create the physical
settings of the fair. The overall neoclassical theme
that resulted, and its chalky white plaster look, led the main
section to be nicknamed “the White City”. Meanwhile, another
section of the fair included a midway of amusements and con-
cessions, but also a series of “ethnological villages” like
an African village and“Streets of Cairo”. Further, a women’s
faction fought for and won the right to have their own build-
ing, apart from the exhibits created and representing “men”.
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The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition became not only a repre-
sentation of the social and artistic movements in American
society at the time, but inspired such things as the lighting
of cities and streets with electric lights, the production of
the automobile by Henry Ford, the founding of the Smithsonian
Institution, the Chicago Field Museum, the Science and
Industry Museum, and the Chicago Art Institute.
