SH Archive Documentary: 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago

SH.org OP Username
KorbenDallas
SH.org OP Date
2019-08-24 20:24:05
SH.org Reaction Score
56
SH.org Reply Count
28
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: jd755
Date: 2019-11-18 18:06:22
Reaction Score: 2
No mention of the restoration effort in this pdf and an interesting picture of the fire' aftermath. Natural causes my left foot.
Michael Herron, a Detroit Fire Department senior chief, said reports indicated that 'natural causes' were to blame for the fire, adding it was most likely a lightning strike.The huge stove was built from oak by the Michigan Stove Co and first went on display at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.Painted to look like metal, it stood on a platform at the exposition over an exhibit of regular stoves.In 1998, the dismantled stove was pulled out of storage and reassembled at the state fairgrounds in Detroit.

More stove stuff. Interesting life this thing had.
The End of the World's Largest Stove
Moving Day for the World’s Largest Stove

stove_AP110112093569.jpg

Interesting tale of the Detroit stove industry here; When stoves were the hot new thing
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2019-11-18 18:36:46
Reaction Score: 1
Looks like the silver foot rest was made of some fire retardant wood.
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: jd755
Date: 2019-11-18 18:59:02
Reaction Score: 3
Little video of the fire.



A totally unmarked carved oak leg.
_IMG_6329.jpg
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: esgee1
Date: 2019-12-27 19:50:19
Reaction Score: 1
There's a documentary narrated by Gene Wilder on Amazon Prime Video about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893: Expo - Magic of the White City. In case no one else has posted about this yet. (I haven't watched it yet, but it's in my queue to.)
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2019-12-27 20:26:49
Reaction Score: 5
It's the same one from the OP, I believe. There is an interesting image in this documentary. I will attempt to post it when in a position to do so.

For right now check this thing out:
  • Digging under Obama library site unearths World's Fair artifacts, but construction will proceed
  • Artifacts from 1893 World’s Fair found beneath Obama center site, but report signals construction won’t be blocked
  • Among the artifacts are pieces of fair buildings — including red fragments that could be from one of the fair’s most notable structures, the multicolored Transportation Building by architect Louis Sullivan — and shards of cups and saucers that bear the mark of Chase and Sanborn, the fair’s official coffee supplier.
  • The archaeologists also discovered animal bones, most of which they identified as waste associated with food eaten at the fair. But they dangled the possibility that some of the bones might belong to camels and reindeer that were part of the exotic attractions that lined the fair’s Midway. The creatures are said to have died during the event.
    • KD: I don't know why they were wasting their time guessing. All they needed to do was to give those bones to the dudes and dudesses who know how to recreate dinosaurs based on a single tooth, or a fraction of a hip bone.
  • While the findings may excite history buffs and readers of “The Devil in the White City,” Erik Larson’s best-selling account of the fair, state officials who oversaw the archaeological survey say the artifacts don’t provide significant new knowledge about Jackson Park and therefore don’t merit listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Starmonkey
Date: 2019-12-27 22:18:29
Reaction Score: 0
If it was St Louis, bones could be dogs as well. The Moro complained that the Igorrotes were eating their pets.
But they could be dog or cat or other bones that the "primitive" people ate.
I had other notion those could have been failed attempts at giant "small world" theme parks. Seeing the smaller ones...
Trying to turn the world into a big zoo and museum. (Fishbowl).
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2019-12-28 01:39:22
Reaction Score: 5
Ok, here is the photograph I was talking about here. Could it be that an older structure is being plastered over? It's at 0:12:28 in this movie.
  • After watching the entire thing, I think the construction narrative and the reality have very little in common.
  • We are delusional thinking that they could build the place in two years from scratch and in a swamp.
chicago-expo.jpg
P.S. I highly recommend watching the movie. The narrative is the same but some of the presented details and images are either rare, or from archives, meaning you would hardly be able to see those anywhere else. To be honest the details blew my mind. There are hundreds, but here is a couple.
  • There was an ice skating rink inside the biggest and best and bla-bla-bla in the world refrigerator
  • The invention of the spray painting is claimed. That is for the purposes of building this Expo. Otherwise it would have taken them years to paint it alone.
1893 Refrigerator
It was known as the “Greatest Refrigerator on Earth,” and was estimated to be 130 by 255 feet. Its Romanesque design was conceived of by Franklin P. Burnham.

coldstoragebldg.jpg
The lower level provided cold storage for the thousands of pounds of food served every day at the fair; while the upper story featured an ice skating rink for fair patrons.

coldstorageicerink-july.jpg
Fifteen people were killed in the blaze and it is believed to be caused by a negligently placed wooden element near the smokestack.

Cold Storage Building Fire 10 July 1893
coldstoragefire3.jpg
LOL
KD: Infantry formed up with guide-ons for the fridge fire, right?

coldstoragefire2.jpg
coldstoragefire4.jpg
These, and more fake photographs can be had here.

What do you think about this image? It's not related to the icerinkfridge thingy.

And some additional photographs to enjoy.
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Jim Duyer
Date: 2020-04-18 16:56:51
Reaction Score: 1
Is it just me, or doesn't that Golden Door of Transportation resemble the Teleportation chamber
used in a great many sci-fi movies? All we need is some neon lights and a bit of CGI. Oh wait, they
have plenty of CGI.
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Starmonkey
Date: 2020-04-19 19:41:43
Reaction Score: 1
I got some photos...
The big reprints and collections aren't very good quality, scanned and digitized. The larger fair albums are ok, but quality not as good as small souvenir books which have the most photos per book and highest quality. They're just TINY.

0419201333.jpg
0419201333a.jpg0419201333b.jpg
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Trouvare
Date: 2020-04-20 19:07:32
Reaction Score: 0
Looks like the starter kit for a really good post soon!
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Starmonkey
Date: 2020-04-20 21:07:18
Reaction Score: 1
Not much Chicago wise of note. I only have Bussler collections and the quality is crap.
I have better representations of 1904 St Louis and 1915 San Francisco. They were both pretty large as well.
Buffalo and Omaha not so large, I have a reprint of Omaha's program that sucks. Buffalo an original, so better.
Seattle and all the other smaller ones or singular buildings (Minneapolis, Denver...) don't have as much available photos. Especially the singulars. There's like nothing unless it's after the fact.
Cameras were around for decades, so ODD, to say the least.
I'll track down the few that either show good examples of the tech or landscaping and building that seems older. Besides that, what you see is what you get. WHITE supremacy.
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: DanfromMN
Date: 2020-05-18 00:42:18
Reaction Score: 0
This blows my mind each time I see it.
:oops::eek:o_O
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: whitewave
Date: 2020-06-04 03:41:13
Reaction Score: 1
Even better, Minecraft now has a library where they're storing banned books and censored materials from around the world.
Clever people are finding ways to preserve our history. I'm loving it.
This Minecraft library is making censored journalism accessible all over the world
 
Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Recognition
Date: 2020-06-04 11:20:05
Reaction Score: 1
Very cool! The creator says “The style is Classical and formal, the kind of architecture you’d see in the British Museum and New York Public Library,” Delaney tells me. “That was deliberate, because this architectural style is usually used by governments to reinforce their own positions of authority”.
Maybe he’s a member on our forum, sounds like SH type ideas!!:)
 
Hello! I'm very late to the conversation. Since watching an old Youtube video about Chicago in the 1880-early 1900s a couple days ago, I have been looking for information on automatic doors in the victorian era and even way before that to no avail. In that video, you see pictures of people walking out of building through what appear to be automatic doors. I tried to attach the screenshot, but couldn't figure it out. I can't attach the link to the video since this is my first post.

I can't tell if they're some sort of fancy hinges or soft-close tech or maybe it's simply a mechanism that props the door open.

I hope someone see this! :)

Here's the web address:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzsA5S3zZNw

go to 2:44.
I have never seen this image before.

I've noticed that they had a lot of torches in their decor, as seen in the Kimball Mansion for example or the Statue of Liberty. Then I noticed the passing of the torch in the periodical header and I thought, "What's with their obsession with torches?" I then realized that they're literally saying the torch has been passed...
 
Last edited:
Tips
Tips
Please respect our Posting Rules.
Back
Top