The 1893 Columbian Exposition

Everyday items taken for granted; the zipper, fluorescent lights, dishwashers, and spray paint. All of these were unveiled to the world at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The Columbian Exposition, also called the Chicago World’s Fair, was a place of many firsts. Some were good, and some were necessary evils. Planned advancements were that of technology and inventions. Contrasting areas of development such as architecture were surprising, as no one knew how magnificent and cutting-edge the city would become. On the other hand of things, America’s first serial killer came to fruition during the height of the fair, gaining us an insight to the psyche of a whole other mental state of killers. During the few months of this extravagant fair, which
One of these many pieces was the Ferris wheel. A ride made specifically to be at this fair, the Ferris wheel was created by George G.W. , and the ride was featured on the fair's midway.⁵ Another attraction aside from the midway was the wooded island. This was a component created by renowned landscaper Fredrick Law Olmstead. This was a huge deal to have such a well respected landscaper working on the project, as he had previously designed New York's central park and gained attention from that task.⁶ The impact of the wooded island and other outside features created for the Columbian Exposition generated enough praise and admiration that in recent years, modern day landscapers in Chicago have designed and built Millenial Park to honor the skill used to create the
¹¹ After all of the effort he put into the fair, Nikola displayed his wireless experiments at the exposition to gain more recognition and to forward the display of new thinking and modern electrical ways of the future.¹²
On the contrary of Nikola Tesla and the architect’s successes, a less ideal outcome from the fair was that of H.H. Holmes. Before he turned to murder, Holmes was a con man. Using money he swindled from people, he built himself what can be described best as a murder castle. He built this in 1892 by buying out others for the land, just in time for the fairs arrival in 1893.¹³ Alongside many of the intricate buildings made for the fair, Holmes’ structure was imposing.The first floor became a front to appear as shops and businesses while he ran operations inside. On the second floor and in the basement, there were rooms that coined the name “horror chambers”, while the third floor had apartments that got rented out to guests during the