“This fair not only changed Chicago, it shaped the American imagination,” says one of the producers about the fair that introduced Vienna Beef, the Ferris Wheel, the zipper, and more.
Playlist World's Fair
World's Fair
How the Miracle of Refrigeration Changed Our Food System – And Chicago's Role in Its Development
Daniel HautzingerRefrigeration has divorced us from the origins of the food we eat, thanks to entrepreneurs like the Chicago meatpacker Gustavus Swift, who helped the stockyards grow by developing the refrigerated train car.
The Extraordinary Chicago Interfaith Gathering That Introduced Asian Religions to America
Daniel HautzingerThe 1893 World's Parliament of Religions that took place during the World's Fair in what is now the Art Institute of Chicago introduced Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and the Baháʼí faith to mainstream America.
The Influential Plan That Sought to Make Chicago Beautiful
Daniel HautzingerThe 1909 Plan of Chicago recommended the lakefront be public parkland, extensive parks and forest preserves throughout the city, and other proposals that helped make Chicago the city we know today.
Frederick Douglass's Defiant Stand at Chicago's World's Fair
Daniel HautzingerAlthough Frederick Douglass did not know his official birth date, he celebrated it on February 14. Late in his life, he spent a year in Chicago serving as the most prominent advocate for African Americans in a World's Fair that largely excluded them.
Dreaming of a World's Fair
Daniel HautzingerThe Joffrey Ballet's new Nutcracker is set at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. How was the Joffrey's creative team inspired by the epochal World's Fair, and what aspects of the real-life Fair made it into their new production?
A Break in the Clouds: Chicago's 1933 World's Fair
Daniel Hautzinger84 years ago today, in the midst of the Great Depression, Chicago opened an extravagant World's Fair. The exposition celebrated "A Century of Progress" in the city and highlighted technological innovations such as the twelve-sided House of Tomorrow, which featured an electric dishwasher and air conditioning, and a Sky Ride that ferried visitors over the entire fair.
