The Federal Building, planned for the exhibits of the United States Government and of the States, was 885 feet long by 565 feet wide, and in general style and construction conformed to the Main Building. Horticultural Hall, built of iron and glass, is 600 feet long, 100 feet wide in main structure, and has a central transept carrying out the extreme width to 194 feet. The Art Building, of corrugated iron and glass, stood nearly in front of the Main Building, and was 250 long by 100 feet wide, with a rotunda 50 feet square in the centre. Two other noteworthy buildings were erected by the Mexican Government, one in the style of a native hacienda, with an interior gallery for the display of horticulture and bird-life; the other for native minerals. Excluding those of Mexico, the various buildings covered an area of 2,673,588 square feet, or sixty-two acres, and all buildings covered about seventy-six acres.
Among the special features of this exposition were the display of woman’s work, under charge of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe; of the work of the colored race, under charge of the late Blanche K. Bruce; of the cultivation of cotton and manufacture of the fibre; and of the cultivation, harvesting, and preparation for market of rice and sugar.
On May 5, 1889, another universal exposition was opened in Paris. This was also a commemorative one, marking the centennial of the French Revolution, and because of its political character only the United States and Switzerland accorded it official recognition, although most of the European governments encouraged individual participation. The exposition, despite this feature, was a grand success because of its unusual extent and comprehensiveness and its distinctive features. This exposition cost $8,600,000, and had about 60,000 exhibitors and more than 28,000,000 reported visitors, the greater number, of course, being French.
The making of the World’s Columbian Exposition, to commemorate the discovery of America by Columbus, began soon after the close of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was at first proposed to create a permanent exposition, to be held in Washington in 1892, to illustrate the progress of North, Central, and South America, and a board of promotion was organized. By 1889, however, a strong popular sentiment had been aroused for a more comprehensive display, and citizens of Washington, New York, Chicago, and St. Louis vied with each other in pressing on a special committee of the United States Senate the advantages of their respective cities. A certificate to the effect that subscriptions to the amount of $5,000,000 had been made in Chicago decided the controversy in favor of that city.
On April 25, 1890, Congress passed an Act giving a legal status to a World’s Columbian Exposition, to be held under the auspices and supervision of the United States Government, the organizing corporation to guarantee the subscription of $10,000,000 and the payment of $500,000 before the national commissioners should officially recognize the site offered by the corporation for the exposition. On December 24, following, President Harrison announced the forthcoming exposition, to be opened on May 1, 1893, and invited the nations of the world to participate in it. Congress appropriated in various sums a total of $3,238,250 in money and authorized the coining of 5,000,000 souvenir fifty-cent pieces in silver to be sold for the benefit of the exposition.
The management was vested in a National Commission of two representatives of each State and Territory and of the District of Columbia, and eight from the country at large. The site was Jackson Park, on the shore of Lake Michigan, to which was added the Midway Plaisance tract of 80 acres, making an aggregate ground area of 633 acres. On the main ground more than 150 noteworthy buildings were erected. The Midway Plaisance was devoted to amusements and the illustration of the manners and customs of the world. Here, the most conspicuous of a multitude of great and curious objects was the gigantic revolving and passenger-carrying Ferris Wheel. All of the exposition buildings proper were constructed of wood, iron, and glass, in combination with a material known as “staff,” made by uniting plaster and jute fibre in water, in the form of a paste. As all exterior surfaces were painted white, the exposition grounds became popularly known as the White City.
ART BUILDING. EXACT REPRODUCTION OF THE PARTHENON.
(Nashville Exposition, 1897.)
The principal buildings, with their cost, were those of Manufactures and Liberal Arts, the largest of all, 1687 by 787 feet, $1,500,000; Machinery, $1,285,000; Fine Arts, $670,000; Agriculture, $618,000; Administration, $435,000; Electricity, $401,000; United States Government, $400,000; Live Stock, $385,000; Transportation, $370,000; Horticulture, $300,000; Mines, $265,000; Fisheries, $224,000; Woman’s, $138,000; Forestry, $100,000; and a brick imitation of a modern United States battleship, with complete armament and equipment, $100,000. Foreign governments appropriated a total of $6,571,520 for their respective buildings and exhibits, France leading with $650,000, and being followed by Japan, $630,000; Brazil, $600,000; Germany, $214,200; and Austria, $149,100; and the States and Territories, a total of $6,020,850. The entire cost of construction was $18,322,622.