The Story of the Chicago World Fair 1893 and a serial killer, read 4/10/16
Erik Larson's books read like a novel, but I checked the facts below.
1993 The 3 people in charge of the World Fair in Chicago John Wellborn Root, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted
Chicago burned down in 1871 and by 1890 had a population of 1 million it has just overtaken Philadelphia as the second biggest city. When the Eifel Tower was built in 1889 Chicago felt that it had to do something greater. World Fair of 1893 to celebrate 400 years of Columbian America.
Eaglewood was where a junction of 8 train tracks arrived and the stockyard was so big that it gave off a smell. It also provided most of the work for the city.
A sight had to be chosen near the lake as that was the panoramic attraction of Chicago for the World Fair. They needed to plan to bring a railway line there and things like nursing dept. stables for all the horses to be used also had to be planned.
The Union of carpenters went on strike and eventually were given work terms that included overtime, double pay for Sundays etc. after this it became the norm of work conditions in the US. The logistics of bringing drinking water as in 1885 there was an outbreak of Cholera in Chicago. The extreme climates was also a problem.
President Grosvenor Cleveland officially opened the fair on May 1st 1893 but as the country was in economic depression and banks were failing also, people waited for the attractions to be fully built not enough visitors came.
Buffalo Bills show was outside the fair and became the biggest attraction during the whole fair time.
Westinghouse was commissioned to electrify the fair with their AC electricity and this set the standard for lighting after that.
The Ferris wheel was used for the first time there and when people wrote about the fair others paid the passage price and came to see it despite the economic downturn..
Susan B Antony was the leader of the suffragettes and she opposed the Sabbateans who forced the fair to close on Sundays while Buffalo Bills show was able to stay open. Helen Keller met Braille who invented the Braille typewriter there.
The record day saw 751 000 visitors arriving and then all debts owed were paid off as a result.
Theodore Dreiser arrived from St. Louis with a party of 40 all given the prize by his newspaper of visiting the fair.
1993 The mayor Carter Henry Harrison was assassinated by a crazy office seeker Patrick Prendgast.
When the fair ended there were so many unemployed that vagrants set up camp there and it burned down Jackson Park.
The other story in the book is about the most notorious serial killer in the US who had a building built, the Castle so that he could hide his killings. Dr. Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896) He admitted to killing 27 people mostly women but it is possible that he killed up to 200 and was eventually hanged at Moyamensing Prison Philadelphia.
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