Summary Of Chicago World's Fair

“I am puzzled to understand the final impression left on the average mind...as to the inward meaning of this dream of beauty. Of course, I don't understand it, but then I don't understand anything...”, Henry Adams, in a letter to Lucy Baxter, October 18, 1893
The Chicago worlds fair was a bustling whirlwind that swept the country’s grittiest city in 1893. A race was run by the nation’s top architects and landscapers to beat the clock and Paris’s previous display. The streets were dirty, the numerous train tracks dangerous, the water unsafe, and yet the city teemed with people intent on seeing beauty like never before. It was the wild west meeting city life, a town not for the faint of heart. The Fair’s electric lights and rolling fields a contrast
Larson illustrates the fierce competition surrounding the contract to host the fair, that is won by Chicago. The author then ushers in Holmes who immediately upon arriving in the city has talked an old pharmacy owner to allow him to run the store. After this Burnham begins pursuing Olmsted to landscape the fair. Holmes’ charm helps him at the pharmacy and the business thrives as he meets his first lover and victim, Myrta Belknap. Burnham and his crew begin to set up shop in Jackson Park, the decided location for the fair. At this same time, Holmes breaks ground on a new building that he will rent rooms in during the fair. The building has office space, gas chambers, and a body chute. Things take a dramatic turn in chapter ten when Burnham’s long term architect partner Root dies. A meeting of all the elected architects is held, their designs are shown and hopes for a beautiful fair are risen. Holmes quartz a married woman and eventually kills she and her daughter. New challenges arise for Burnham as deadlines are missed and soil sinks. A cold winter makes work even harder as a contract is awarded to Mr. Ferris who has an idea for a wheel. Holmes in the mean time moves on to two new girls, Anna and Minnie. Despite all of the adversity leading up to the fair, it successfully opens on May 1, 1893. Holmes begins taking people into the hotel, only some are able to
Everyone had brought their best and newest to inspire a generation of dreamers, innovators, and inventors. It brought a sense of community and made the world seem a little smaller. All visitors were met with something new, whether it was their first time seeing an electric light bulb or Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. It was a game changer, it was a group of men coming together and saying let’s do the impossible, let’s beat Paris, let’s give them something they’ve never seen. And it was in this optimism and boldness with which impossibility was faced that the people found the true spirit of the fair. The Chicago Worlds Fair was doing the