The World Exhibition in Chicago (May 1 - November 1, 1893), timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America, was housed in a picturesque area on the shores of Lake Michigan and became one of the largest in history. Dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America, it was named the World's Columbian Exposition.
Architecturally, it was a triumph of Bozard principles as applied to American urban planning. The exhibition grounds were designed by the leading architects of the time - Daniel Hudson and Frederick Olmsted.
Daniel Hudson, architect, planner of the 1893 World's Fair.
Preparations for the exhibition took place simultaneously with the restoration of the city after the great fire of 1871.
The most successful day brought her 47 thousand visitors, and over the entire period 27 million people saw the exhibition.
Promotional video:
On the territory of 600 acres, about 200 magnificent buildings of white color (material - wood treated with special plaster), an elevated railway, moving sidewalks, glowing fountains, a giant swing wheel, an ice mountain, a whole "street of pleasure" with theaters, menageries, bazaars - all this attracted and mesmerized.
At the Chicago exhibition, the public could contemplate a machine that sews 1,000 buttons per hour on soldiers' uniforms (machinery department), a whole library of books written exclusively by women (women's department), a maize arbor (agriculture department), and much more.
The expenses of the Americans on the Columbus exhibition were not in vain. The "White" exhibition was a great success.
On the basis of its exhibits, the Philadelphia Trade Museum was subsequently created - the largest in the world.
It was at the Third Congress, held as part of the 1893 World Exhibition in Chicago, that international electrical units such as Ohm, Watt, Joule, Farad, Volt, Henry were adopted.
The visitors to the exhibition were amazed at Nikola Tesla. Visitors watched in amazement as the tall and thin scientist passed an electric shock of two million volts through himself. In principle, there should have been no trace of the brave experimenter, but Tesla smiled and held brightly burning electric lamps in his hands. The trick experiment seemed like a miracle. The crazy inventor amazed not only ordinary people, but also fellow scientists. Now we know that it is not the voltage that kills, but the current, and that the high-frequency current passes only over the surface. In the infancy of electricity, such a trick seemed like a miracle. Tesla, demonstrates electric lamps burning in his hands.
Nikola Tesla also wittily plays up the famous expression of Columbus. He proves that it is possible to put an egg upright without even breaking it. When the electromagnetic inductor is turned on, the copper egg begins to rotate and gradually takes a vertical position. Officially, this invention was called the "electromagnetic field inductor". Tesla himself called it the Columbus Egg.
The Norwegians challenged Columbus's primacy in the discovery of America by sailing to Chicago on a replica of the Gokstad Drakar.
In 1891, the organizers of the World's Fair in Chicago, scheduled for 1893, announced a competition for the best design of a building that could become a "calling card" of a future event and eclipse the Eiffel Tower - the "nail" of the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris. The organizers received many letters from engineers from all over the world. However, their designs were not original. Basically, it was proposed to build an even taller tower.
Then a young engineer from Illinois, George Ferris, proposed building a giant Ferris wheel with cabins for people. This idea was prompted by the memory of the wheels of watermills, which he saw as a child on the Carson River in Nevada.
Colleagues found Ferris' idea absurd. But he didn't give up. The engineer spent $ 25,000 of his own funds to create blueprints and develop precise specifications for the structure, and as a result, the exhibition administration agreed. There was, however, one condition: unlike the Eiffel Tower, the construction of which was partially financed by the French government, George Ferris had to find the money himself to build his brainchild.
Most of the parts of the future wheel were manufactured in Detroit, and then delivered by train to Chicago. The Ferris wheel had a diameter of 80 m and sat on an axle with a length of almost 14 m and a diameter of 2 m. 36 booths accommodated 60 visitors each. The mass of the entire structure was 4100 tons. In total, $ 250,000 was spent on the construction of the wheel.
On June 21, 1893, the attraction opened to the public. During the entire exhibition, almost 1.5 million visitors have ridden on the wheel, paying 50 cents for a 10-minute ride. This brought the organizers almost $ 730,000 in profit - a lot of money at that time!
The public was presented with a moving sidewalk in the form of a covered conveyor belt 730 meters long with benches installed on it. Visitors to the exhibition, arriving on the lake on boats, moved from the pier to the conveyor and at the speed of a pedestrian drove to the entrance to the exhibition.
At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, also called the Columbia Exposition, there was a concessionaire who made over $ 2,000 selling iced tea and lemonade. Home Queen's World's Fair Souvenir Cookbook - Two Thousand Valuable Recipes and Housekeeping, Menus, Table Etiquette, etc., contributed by two thousand women stewards, wives of governors, and other women in positions of influence. contained recipes for serving cold tea.
Arabian trotter from Syria at the World Exhibition.
Interior view of the showroom.
Four boys at the World's Fair.
In August 1892, Congress specifically approved the minting of 5 million half dollars for sale during the 1982 World's Columbian Exposition in honor of the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World. This was the first major World Exhibition to be attended by commemorative coins. The first issue was dated 1892. The exhibition was supposed to open in Chicago in October 1892, but did not open until May 1893. By this time, additional coins with a new date were minted. Initially, the coin was supposed to be manufactured by USJ Dunbar. The design he proposed was based on a portrait of Columbus by Lorenzo Lotto in 1512. Charles E. Barber, who was at the time the chief engraver of the US Mint, in every possible way interfered with Dunbar's work. Instead of Dunbar's design, he adopted a project of his own depiction of Columbus, allegedly based on a bust by artist Olin L. Warner. Barber also clashed with Exhibit officials over the reverse of the coin, favoring his own design with the Western Hemisphere covering the entire obverse. The leaders of the Exhibition preferred the image of Columbus' ship Santa Maria "soaring" over two hemispheres of the Earth. The leaders of the Exhibition preferred the image of Columbus' ship Santa Maria "soaring" over two hemispheres of the Earth. The leaders of the Exhibition preferred the image of Columbus' ship Santa Maria "soaring" over two hemispheres of the Earth.
In an attempt to resolve this controversy, Barber commissioned his engraving assistant George T. Morgan to design the reverse. By the time additional coins were minted in 1893, the demand for commemorative coins had diminished. An unknown amount of half dollars was used as collateral for a loan taken by the Exhibition. When the Exhibition was unable to pay the debit, the banks put the coins into circulation.
Issue 1892: The first half dollar was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in November 1892. A total of 950,000 coins were minted here, with some unknown number being samplers. None of them are believed to have been melted. They were distributed by the World's Columbus Exposition and the banks of Chicago, which sold them for a dollar apiece.
Issue 1893: The Philadelphia Mint commenced production of Columbian Commemorative Halves dated 1893 on January 3, 1893. The total minted was 4,052,105 (including 2,105 trial coins), but sales were significantly lower than government anticipated. The Mint destroyed all unsold coins. This brings the number of coins melted to 2,501,700.
It should be noted that some of the specimens that managed to avoid melting were put into circulation. Even so, the Columbian Exposition Half Dollar 1893 is not a rare medium to poor quality coin. And represents a certain rarity in above average quality.
As soon as the first commemorative Columbian Exposition Half Dollar was minted, it immediately took a special place among commemorative coins. From the very first proof print, which sold for $ 10,000 in 1892, (The first trial was bought for $ 10,000 by the Remington typewriter. This was their publicity stunt.) To the last regular coinage in 1893, Columbian Halves were very popular among collectors at that time and hundreds of years later.
Tickets for exhibition.
Commemorative medals of the Exhibition.
Postmark from the exhibition.