Things I Like - Chicago

Chicago submitted its bid for the 2016 Olympics last week. I hope we get them - we could use the infrastructure improvements. The last time Chicago did something this big was over 115 years ago - the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

The Chicago Olympic plan includes venue and building development all up and down the lakefront as well as some suburban locations. While the 1893 Exposition didn't have the same footprint, it certainly brought Chicago to the attention of the world in the same way that the Olympics would. (Note - you can enlarge any of these photos by clicking)

So what did the 1893 Exposition look like? They called it the White City, and for good reason:

Olmsted, Burnham, and the Board of Architects -- a group of Eastern architects generally trained at the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris -- decided on an unusual Fair plan. Utilizing the natural landscape of Jackson Park, Olmsted created a system of lagoons and waterways fed by Lake Michigan. These bodies of water served as decorative reflecting pools, waterways for transportation, and provided a place of respite necessary for weary summer visitors--the shady Wooded Island. The 14 main buildings surrounding the waterways were in the Beaux-Arts style, with its emphasis on logic, harmony, and uniformity. The Court of Honor buildings-- surrounding the Grand Basin with its massive gilded statue of the Republic--were covered with "staff," or stucco, giving the main buildings a magnificent whiteness and dazzling visitors who arrived at the rail terminal just outside the Fair's gates...Visitors were greeted with 633 total acres of Fairgrounds, 65,000 exhibits, and restaurant seating for 7,000. They were amazed by the clean and safe elevated railway and the electric launches plying the canals and lagoons.
~The Worlds Columbian Exposition

The 14 main buildings housed exhibits celebrating Agriculture, Manufacturing, Horticulture, Fishing, Transportation, Machinery, Mining and Women. Not sure about that last one - the others seem to be industry based...

Each State also had a building at the fair. The Illinois building was one of the largest with a huge dome at the top.

The Illinois building
Grain Picture in the Illinois BuildingThe Grain picture was one of the star attractions in the building. A mosaic composed of grains and grasses made to look like an actual painting in a frame, the grain picture covered much of the western wall. The scene was of an Illinois prairie farm with farm house, barns and sheds. The ‘painting’ was very colorful although not a single daub of paint was used – all the colors came from grasses, grains, berries and leaves indigenous to Illinois.

The Administration Building
The Palace of Fine Arts - now the Museum of Science & Industry
The Wooded Isle
Court of Honor looking toward the Peristyle from the Administration Building
The Grand Basin from the PeristyleAnd btw, the Exposition was wildly successful. The fair ran for 6 months (May 1st thru October 31st) with 27 million visitors--nearly one quarter of the country's population at the time. The fair more than covered the $28 million investment and operating costs, finishing up with a $1 million surplus that was returned to its 30,000 stockholders.

So maybe the 2016 Olympics would help with the city budget??