Among the highlights of the mining display was an amethyst stone measuring 20 inches long, 17 inches high, and 12 inches thick, and a meteorite weighing 1,015 pounds. Britain displayed a Statue of Liberty sculpted from pure rock salt and a lump of coal from its collieries weighing nearly 12 tons. The Italians showed their skill in statuary, including a model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa cut from marble. The German exhibit was dominated by the Strumm and Krupp companies. There was also a display of diamonds from Kimberley in the Cape Province, guarded by two Zulu warriors, each standing seven feet tall. The Maitland nugget, containing 313 ounces of gold, was displayed near a collection of gemstones including diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, opals, and garnets.
Fish & Fisheries
The main building of the Fish and Fisheries complex, built in the Spanish Romanesque style, was 365 feet long and 165 feet wide, attached on either side by arched corridors to identical polygonal annexes, each 134 feet in diameter. Inside the eastern annex was a series of aquariums, varying from six to sixty feet in diameter and installed by the U.S. Fish Commission. The largest of the aquariums contained 40,000 gallons of ocean water in which swam sharks, porpoises, dolphins, and swordfish. To reduce the cost of transportation to Chicago, the sea water had been concentrated down to 20 percent of its volume and later mixed with Lake Michigan fresh water to restore its usual salinity. The other aquariums contained lake and river fish. Black bass, carp, sea robins, rainbow trout, blue fish, skate fish, and the Japanese singlehorn were some of the varieties of fish swimming about in the aquariums.
The Fisheries building was designed by Henry Ives Cobb, born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1859, and trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard before starting his architectural career with the distinguished Boston firm of Peabody & Stearns. In 1882 Cobb moved to Chicago and was the architect for Potter Palmer’s mansion and the early buildings of the University of Chicago.
The Fish and Fisheries Building contained a series of both saltwater and freshwater aquariums, one as large as 40, 000 gallons.
The town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, one of the first fishing ports in North America, showed models and photographs of its fishing boats. These ranged from the small vessels used during the early days of British settlement to the large schooners of the late 19th century. In colonial times the fish caught off the Gloucester coast were dried, salted, and traded to the British islands of Barbados and Jamaica in return for sugar and molasses. The molasses was fermented and distilled into rum, which became the alcoholic beverage of choice in New England. The Gloucester exhibition also displayed paintings of a New England fishing schooner and a view of the harbor. The American Net & Twine Company of Cambridge, Massachusetts (established 1844), displayed its fishing nets made of Southern cotton. The abundant lobster off the northeast coast was first used to fertilize the fields and to feed servants and prisoners, before it was recognized as a delicacy. In the 19th century, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia became markets and lobstering developed into a major industry. J. W. Marston & Company of Boston exhibited its lobster traps and a Rhode Island company its fishing boats. Burnham & Merrill of Portland, Maine, sold canned lobster meat, herring, and vegetables to markets across the nation. The Boston firm of John R. Neal & Company displayed the methods of deep-sea fishing and showed scenes of the fishing boats arriving at Boston’s T-Wharf, “the great fresh fish emporium of New England” (White & Igleheart 1893).
The Fish & Fisheries Building displayed a white whale, 16 feet long; the skeleton of another whale 47 feet long; and an 82-pound salmon from the Columbia River (sent from Oregon in a solid block of ice). The art of taxidermy showed various forms of aquatic life in brilliant color. Flat bottomed boats from Japan, fishing boats from Norway, lobster boats from Boston, British fishing trawlers, Dutch herring boats, and cod schooners from Nova Scotia were all displayed. Fishing was big business and the Fish & Fisheries Building was a vast emporium of products from around the world offered for sale. Companies advertised their dried, salted, and smoked fish, canned salmon, edible seaweed, fish glue, tortoise-shell combs, cultivated pearls, and decorated sea shells.
The Horticultural Building was designed by William Le Baron Jenney, who moved from Massachusetts to Chicago. The domed building measured almost 1, 000 feet in length.
Horticultural Building
With its tropical, temperate, mountain, and dry climatic zones, the United States possesses a vast range of fauna and flora. The Horticultural Building was the showcase for the flowers, fruits, vegetables, and natural and cultivated plants and trees from both home and abroad. The crystal-domed building measured 998 feet long with an average width of 250 feet, enclosing six acres of a veritable greenhouse. The central dome reached a height of 113 feet and underneath were palms, tree ferns, and bamboo. Cafés surrounded the arcade, where the scent of the flowers and the splashing waters made it one of the most restful places at the Fair. The architect was William Le Baron Jenney, born in 1832 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where his father owned a fleet of whaling ships. Instead of a life at sea, William chose Harvard and then traveled to Paris to study engineering and architecture. He served as an engineer with the Union forces during the Civil War and, in 1867, moved to Chicago. He designed the Home Insurance and the Manhattan buildings in Chicago, before taking on the design of the Horticultural Building.
Germany used its 4,000 square feet in the Horticultural Building to replicate an old wine cellar, filled with Johannisberger, Steinberger, and other wines of the Rhine and Mosel River valleys. The French displayed wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Loire River district, and its Champagne sparkling wines. Italy showed wines from Piedmont, Barbera, and Braccheto, and Spain displayed Malagas and Muscatel wines. C. A. Baldwin of Cupertino and H. W. Crabb of Oakville in the Napa Valley of California used cuttings from Bordeaux vines to start their own vineyards. Both these companies displayed their domestic wines at the Fair. Bountiful exhibits of fruits and flowers were also on display. Southern Florida and California displayed their oranges, grapefruit, and other citrus fruits. Los Angeles county’s pyramid of 14,000 oranges and lemons reached a height of 36 feet with a 14-foot base. There was a potato 15 inches long weighing 15 pounds, a three-pound pear from Oregon, and a strawberry from Washington measuring 11 inches in circumference. The Japanese displayed dwarf bonsai oak and pine trees, Trinidad exhibited orchids and ferns, and Australia showed plants that were “as strange as her animals” (White & Igleheart 1893).
The State of Illinois exhibited its fruits and vegetables in a large display at the Horticultural Building.
Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed the site of the World’s Columbian Exposition, previously developed Central Park in New York and the urban park systems for Boston, Buffalo, and Rochester. These open spaces were lined with trees, flowering bushes, and flowers, and served as the lungs of the crowded and polluted cities. Public parks stimulated interest in private gardens and created a market for tools, lawn mowers, trees, flowers, and seeds. Seed and bulb companies were prominent in the Horticultural Building. Peter Henderson was a pioneer in the sale of packaged vegetable and flower seed, which he advertised in colorful catalogs. Henderson, who emigrated from Scotland to New Jersey, wrote widely about plants and gardening. One of his books, Gardening for Profit, sold over 100,000 copies. Another seed salesman was Washington Atlee Burpee (1858–1915) of New Brunswick, New Jersey. He sold chickens before moving into the feed business. Burpee expanded to garden seeds when customers asked about growing vegetables. Known as W. Atlee Burpee, his company grew vegetables and flowers on a Pennsylvania farm to produce the seeds, which he packaged in envelopes and sold through the mail. Another was John Lewis Childs, born in Maine in 1856. Childs moved to Long Island, where he set up as a seed and bulb man and a florist. He advertised widely through his monthly magazine, the Mayflower, and in leaflets and catalogs. As his business grew, Childs acquired hundreds of acres for glass houses, seed beds, and stores. John
Childs’s bulb and seed nursery grew to become the village of Floral Park, served by a railroad and a post office to process the thousands of orders coming in every day. Hiram Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, in 1807. Without much formal education, Sibley worked as a shoemaker before heading to western New York where he set up a machine shop and a foundry. At age 36 he moved to Rochester, New York, where he became interested in the telegraph. Sibley bought up several small companies to form the Western Union Telegraph Company, which grew to 4,000 offices and offered coast-to-coast service during the Civil War. Western Union expanded its telegraph service to Europe, and offered telegraph money transfers and stock market tickertape service with quotes from the New York Stock Exchange. After he retired as president of Western Union, Sibley entered the seed and nursery business. The Hiram Sibley catalogs advertised bulbs and seeds grown on his 14 farms scattered from Massachusetts and New York to the Midwest. He funded the Sibley College of Mechanical Arts at Cornell University and donated a library building to the University of Rochester. His son, Hiram Watson Sibley, donated the music library, which became part of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. The mail-order business of seeds and bulbs expanded to the Midwest where Ronald H. Shumway started his company on his farm near Rockford, Illinois. Each spring Shumway sent out 200,000 catalogs and became one of the nation’s largest mail-order seed companies.
Fruits and vegetables from Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and Australia arrived regularly on refrigerated ships and railroad cars, fresh and ready for eating, even “after a journey half way around the world” (Flinn 1893). American-grown apples, grapes, citrus fruits, peaches, and pears were brought in daily for sale at the Fair. Beneath the great dome of the Horticultural Building were palms, cacti, ferns, shrubs, and also giant rhododendrons imported from Versailles, France. Flowers from the Cape of Good Hope were fashioned into the shape of the U.S. Capitol building. The indoor flower display was changed every month. In July, orchids, begonias, and gloxinias bloomed. In August, the display was changed to ferns and cacti, carnations, gladioli, and sweet pea. In September, asters in pots and various roses were added, and in October the display included tuberous begonias, cosmos, and chrysanthemums. A crew of gardeners daily tended the flowers, fruits, vegetables, and shrubs. There were displays of insecticides, fertilizers, garden tools, and lawn mowers. The scents and colors of the flowers, vegetables, and fruits made the Horticultural Building one of the favorites of the Fair.
Livestock
The Dairy Building, yet another designed by Charles B. Atwood, was located close by the larger Anthropology building. The building, 200 feet by 100 feet, displayed the latest advances in dairy equipment including methods to make condensed milk and butter. Animal shows in the 6,000-seat livestock pavilion were a regular part of the Fair. The dog show was held from June 12 to 18, cattle and horses from August 12 to September 20, sheep and swine for the first two weeks of October, and poultry and pigeons from October 16 to 28. Farmers from across the nation sent their largest and most productive animals for display at Chicago. There were displays of sheep from Australia, angora goats from California, and stud horses from Germany, France, and Britain. The grand champion boar at the Fair was Black Knight, which with 17 awards had already “defeated every boar he met.” Prize-winning cows were sent to Chicago from all over the nation. The winning milking cow was Rita of Andalusia, who produced 75 pounds of milk in a day. Second place went to Sayda with 60 pounds of milk in a day. The leading butter producer was Little Goldie, owned by the C. I. Hood Dairy of Massachusetts, giving 34 and a half pounds of butter in seven days. Second was Lily Flagg, who gave 29 pounds and 11 ounces of butter, and the third place winner was Eurotisama, who gave 27 pounds and one and a half ounces of butter in seven days. When the animals were not on parade, the British Military Tournament performed in the stock pavilion.
Prize-winning hogs, sheep, and cattle from all over the United States were displayed at the Fair. Black Night, the immense boar, beat all comers in his division.
Leather and Shoes
The early settlers in the New World were chosen for their ability to be selfsufficient and many came skilled in leather tanning and making footwear. The American shoe industry that began in New England was moving by the late 19th century to the Midwest as Chicago became the world’s leading slaughterhouse and center for hides. Over 900 American shoe and leather companies were represented at the 1893 Fair, mostly in the Leather and Shoes Building on the lake shore between the Krupp Gun Building and the Forestry Building. The building measured 625 feet long and 170 feet wide and carried all manner of leather goods as well as machinery used in the trade. In addition to cattle hides, there were displays of walrus, kangaroo, alligator, and kid leather, as well as leather stains, threads, laces, rubber, elastics, pocketbooks, wallets, gloves, and saddles. In the leather trades, machines and mass production had long replaced craftsmanship. The machinery pioneers were Lyman R. Blake, who modified a Singer sewing machine to sew leather soles to uppers; Charles Goodyear Jr., who patented his welting machine; and Jan Ernst Matzelinger, who invented the lasting machine. These three machines were brought together to form the United Shoe Machinery Corporation of Beverly, Massachusetts. Known affectionately as “The Shoe,” the company leased its shoe machinery to manufacturers around the world and received payment for every pair of shoes made. Other shoe machines on display were the Globe Button Hole Machine, O. A. Miller’s shoe trees, and Lesson & Company’s Thread Winding Machine. The Boston Rubber Shoe Company and the Converse Rubber Shoe Company also displayed their wares. Horses used for travel and work on farms and mills created a great market for saddles, harnesses, bridles, collars, whips, and reins, as well as leather riding pants and riding boots in all sizes, quality, and price.
Former Easterners like Charles M. Henderson were responsible for shifting the shoe industry to the center of the nation. Henderson & Company of Chicago employed 1,000 shoe workers. Henry B. Endicott, a prominent Boston shoe man, and George Johnson of Milford, Massachusetts, took over a failing shoe factory near Binghamton, New York, and built the Endicott-Johnson shoe company into one of the world’s largest. By 1893, Missouri had “already become by far the largest boot and shoe distributing center of the new world,” and the state was well on its way to become a leading shoe manufacturing center (Missouri at the World’s Fair 1893). The leather industry of Missouri was located in St. Louis, where wholesalers imported shoes and boots made in New England for distribution in the West. The leading St. Louis shoe company was Hamilton-Brown, established in 1872. George Warren Brown moved away from his family’s farm in upstate New York to St. Louis to work for his older brother selling boots and shoes made in the East. The 25-year-old George was convinced that he could manufacture shoes in St. Louis and, with two partners, hired skilled shoemakers from New England and opened his own shoe factory in the city of breweries and meat-packing. In 1893, Brown bought out his partners and formed the Brown Shoe Company, housed in an eight story building complete with four elevators, electric lighting, and steam power. Brown Shoe made men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes in leather and rubber. With abundant local leather and modern facilities, Brown undercut New England shoe prices (Cox 1893).17
The Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company of St. Louis had an exhibit at the Fair showing the many tasks along the assembly line required in making shoes. First came the choice of the tanned skin followed by expert cutting and the processes of vamping and lasting. Welting machines were used in place of hand sewing. The heels and soles were attached after the uppers were stitched and the welts sewn on. The finished shoes were carefully inspected before packing to ensure the highest standards. Friedman Brothers & Shafer was another New England company that followed the trend by relocating to the Midwest. Most mid-19th century factories had a central steam engine from which the power was conveyed over a system of leather belts around pulleys to every section of the mill, to turn the drills and saws and to hoist goods off the ground. Page Belt
ing Company of Concord, New Hampshire, founded in 1968 by Charles and George Page, was one of the largest of its kind in the nation. The company exhibit at the Fair displayed examples of the thick and durable leather belting used for steam power transmission.
Merchant Tailors’ Building
This building was sponsored by 37 merchant tailor exchanges across America. Designed by S. S. Beman, it served as a meeting place for the textile and wool men visiting the Chicago Fair. Here they met for dinner and to conduct their business. Its style was borrowed from the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London and was modeled after the Erechtheum, completed around 410 B.C. as part of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The main room inside was octagonal in shape with a floor laid in mosaic. The walls of the Merchant Tailors’ Building were covered with large paintings done by Oliver Dennett Grover (1861–1927), a leading Chicago artist, showing the eight periods of dress from Adam and Eve, primitive, Egyptian, Greek, medieval, renaissance, Louis XIV, and the “modern” period. The dress code in the 1890s dictated that women wore suffocating corsets under long dresses with full-length sleeves and large, flowery hats. Men of fashion wore stiff-collared shirts, ties, waistcoats, and woolen suits. A mustache, mutton chops, or a full beard and a hat were part of the male uniform.
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