Last time we were at the Chicago World’s Fair we toured the area in the red rectangle.
This time we’re going to head north away from the Grand Basin. Since we’re already familiar with the top of the Liberal Arts Building, let’s go back up there and look around. Instead of looking south onto the Court of Honor and Grand Basin, we’re now facing west. |
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Looking west from the Liberal Arts Building we see the Transportation Building. On the left are the Electricity Building and the Mines Building. Bridges stretch across the Lagoon to the Wooded Isle. |
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From the same spot we look northwest onto the Horticultural Building. The Wooded Island lies between them. The Ferris Wheel is in the background.
The 4 square acre Horticultural Building and its 180 foot dome contained eight greenhouses. |
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We turn further to the northwest and find the Women’s Building on the left and the Illinois State building on the right. |
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Now facing north the Illinois State Building is on the left. The Palace of Fine Arts is in the farground and the dome of the U.S. Government building dominates the foreground. |
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Coming down from the top of the Liberal Arts Building, we are now standing in front of the Golden doorway, east entrance of the Transportation Building. Adler & Sullivan’s Transportation Building was the only major building at the Chicago Fair which was not in the classical style or painted white. Exhibits included the first locomotive in the United States, a full-scale reproduction of an ocean liner and a chariot from the Etruscan museum in Florence. |
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Standing in front of the eastern entrance to the Transportation building, we turn our gaze to the southeast where we find the the Mining Building. |
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The Lagoon, looking north from Transportation Building. The tall dome on the left is the Illinois Building. The smaller dome in the middle is the Palace of Fine Arts. The Fisheries Building is on the right. |
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We have now crossed the bridge onto the Wooded Isle. The Wooded Isle sits at the center of the Lagoon. Passing the Hunter’s Cabin (a tribute to Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone), we follow the island’s trails through trees and hundreds of thousand of pansies and roses.
Looking to the northwest we get a close up of the Horticultural Building’s dome. |
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Continuing northeast onto solid ground, we find ourselves at the Fisheries Building. Facing south, we are confronted with the U.S. Government Building. The U.S. Government Building contained displays by the departments of War, State, Treasury, Interior, Justice, Agriculture, and Post Office.
The two acre Fisheries Building, designed by Henry Ives Cobb, contained a two rows of floor-to-ceiling aquariums filled with fish of all shapes and sizes. |
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We are now on the northwest side of the Fine Arts Building looking east. The Palace of Fine Arts, which still stands as Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, exhibited over 8,000 works of art. |
Thank you SO much for the pictures. I am just now reading “The Devil in the White City” and wanted to get a picture of the Fair in my mind. This has really added to my appreciation of the book
I’d also recommend the graphic novel “Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth” by (Chicagoan) Chris Ware. The World’s Fair is a backdrop for many parts of the book. It’s a great read!