This Page:
Construction and Other Preparations
Fire! The Dream City Burns!
Most of the planning and building of the White City took place between 1891 and the first half year of 1893. The finished White City was open for
only about 6 months in 1893. Then, most of the
White City was destroyed by a series of four fires in 1893-94. The only remaining building is the Palace of Fine Arts, which is the Museum of Science
and Industry in Chicago today.
The first fire burned down the Cold-Storage Building
and killed 17 (mostly firemen) in July of 1893. The second fire damaged the Casino, Music Hall, Peristyle, and the Mines and Manufactures Buildings in January 1894; a third fire
took the Colonnade one month later. The fourth and final fire in July of that same year was massive--destroying the Court of Honor,
Machinery Hall, the Electricity and Administration Buildings, and the Mines and Manufacturing Buildings.
The cause of the fires was the shoddy construction of this "temporary" city created out of the semi-wilderness of Jackson Park by Lake Michigan. It was a firetrap, a disaster waiting
to happen--which is rather ironic considering it was to be the model of the ideal city of the future, when in reality it was a giant "wonderland" theme park created for
the moment. Evidently little or no provision
was made for the protection or preservation of the White City after the World's Fair concluded in December 1893.
French, Daniel (1859 - 1931)
Daniel French standing next to the Head of his
Statue Republic [photo]--by Daniel French.
Graham, Charles S. (1852–1911)
The Building from the Wooden Island--
a Gardener Planting a Sapling Just
across the Stream from the Columbian
Exposition--by Charles S. Graham.
Preparatory Work on Jackson Park--
by Charles S. Graham.
Columbian Exposition--Placing Decorations on the
Horticultural Building--by Charles S. Graham.
Manufacture and Liberal Arts building--View
from Lakeshore--by Charles S. Graham.
Large Statuary Group--in progress--by Charles S. Graham.
Graham, Charles S. (1852–1911), and Dart T. Walker (1869-1914)
Quitting Time at Jackson Park, 1892--
by Charles S. Graham and Dart T. Walker.
Hencke, Albert ( 1865 - 1936 )
Making Sculptures for Agribultural Building
--by A. Hencke, after a sketch by T.
Dart Walker
Fair Statuary in Storage--by A.
Hencke, after a sketch by T. Dart Walker.
Jones, Hugh Bolton (1848-1927)
Site of the Grand Court Aug. 1891
--by H. Bolton Jones.
Low, Will Hicok (1853 - 1933)
Lighting the Natural Gas
Torches on the Roof of the
Administration Building
--by
Will H. Low.
Melchers, Gari (1860 - 1932)
Decorating the Liberal Arts Building
--Portrait of Walter MacEwen
--by Gari Melchers.
Murphy, John Francis (1853 - 1921)
Jackson Park Jan. 1891
--by J. Francis Murphy.
Nichols, H. D. (1859-1959)
Interior of Manufactures and Liberal Arts building,
while it was being constructed, showing the base of
one of the Great Arches, 1893--by H. D. Nichols.
Central Power Plant annexed to
Machinery Hall--by H. D. Nichols.
Workmens' Lunch
--by H. D. Nichols.
Reinhart, Charles S. (1844 - 1896)
Site of the Art Building
1892--by Charles S. Reinhart.
Smedley, William Thomas (1858-1920)
Setting a Statue on the Agricultural
Building 1894--by W. T. Smedley.
Thulstrup, Thure de (1848-1930)
World's Columbian Exposition--Workers in Staff
1892--by T. de Thulstrup..
Columbian Exposition--
Sculptors Studio--
by T. de Thulstrup.
Decorating the Dome of the
Administration Building
--by T. de Thulstrup.
World's Columbian Exposition
--Finishing Large Statues
--by T. de Thulstrup.
Columbian Exposition--In the
Designing Room, Bureau of Construction
1892--by T. de Thulstrup.
Turner, Charles Yardley (1850-1919)
Artists Executing Designs--by Charles Yardley Turner.
Unknown artists
Jackson Park before the Fair [photo]--artist unknown.
Liberal Arts building--artist unknown.
World's Columbian Exposition--Raising the Main
Shaft of the Great Ferris Wheel--artist unknown.
Daniel Burnham, Director of Works: 'Make no small plans'
--artist unknown.
Congressmen in the Woman's Building with Daniel
Burnham asking for 5 Million Dollars--artist unknown.
Decorating the Dome
--artist unknown.
Visit on the Roof of the Woman's Building
1892--artist unknown.
Harvesting Ice on the Waterways of the Exposition
Ground at Chicago--artist unknown.
Mowing Lawn at World's Columbian
Exposition [photo]--artist unknown.
Walker, Thomas Dart (1869-1914)
Columbian Exposition--Pay-day at
the Fair Grounds--by T. Dart Walker.
Columbian Exposition--Unpacking Exhibits
in the Art Gallery--by T. Dart Walker.
Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building
under Construction--by T. Dart Walker.
NOTE: The artists' names for many of the following paintings were not included in the printed sources (mainly popular magazines like Harper's Weekly, Scientific American, or Campbell's History of the Chicago World's Fair Illustrated). Since most of the major magazines had their own "official illustrator" for specials like the Columbian Exposition, the chances are that that artist created the following fire scenes. Charles S. Graham was the official illustrator for Harper's Weekly, and T. de Thulstrup for Campbell's History of the Chicago World's Fair Illustrated.
The Great Fire at the Chicago World's Fair, the Destruction of the
Manufactures and Liberal Art
Building 1894--by H. W. Brewer.
Burning of the Cold-
Storage Warehouse at the
World's Fair
--by Charles S. Graham.
Trapped Firemen Jumping to their
Deaths--by Charles S. Graham.
Burning of the Peristyle, Music Hall, Casino
and Manufactures Buildings, Jan. 8, 1894
Cold Storage Building Fire, 14 killed (photo)
Fire Boat and Agricultural Building, with a Fire Department Boat
Shooting Water Cannons, Chicago World's Fair 1893 (photo)
Columbian Exposition--White City Fire (photo)
untitled
White City Fire (photo).
Fire at the Chicago World's Fair
Title unknown.
Go to Women's Public Art and Architecture
Return to The White City
Return to Site Index
Carr, Carolyn Kinder. "Mary Cassatt and Mary Fairchild MacMonnies: The Search for Their 1893 Murals." American Art, 18 (Winter 1994): 53-69.
Chalmers, F. Graeme. Women in the Nineteenth Century Art World. Westport 1988.
Elliott, Maud Howe, ed. Art and Handicraft in the Women's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition. Rand, McNally, 1894.
Fryer, Judith. Felicitous Space. U of North Carolina Press 1986, pp. 23-6.
Galvin, Paul V. World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Library Digital History Collection, Illinois Institute of Technology.
The Book of the Fair: The Women's Department--detailed description of every aspect of the Women's Building.
Tour the Fair--short description, including a paragraph on Women's Building.
Weimann, Jeanne Madeline. The Fair Women. Chicago 1981.
Yandell, Enid, Jean Loughborough, and Laura Hayes. The Board of Lady Managers--Ch, 5, Three Girls in a Flat (1892), pp. 53-82; a first-hand report on the planning of, governing of, and exhibitions in the Women's Building.
Text written by K. L. Nichols
Painting, top of page: Lydia Field Emmet,
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago (1893)
Return to Nichols Home Page
Suggestions/Comments: knichols11@cox.net
Posted: 4-15-15; Updated: 4-18-18
