Columbian Exposition Essay

As the world has been climbing further into the future, The United States lead the way, as their vast improvements in electricity, mechanics, and manufacturing have the rest of the world nipping at their heels. The World Fair of 1893 was held in Chicago, Illinois and was known as the Columbian Exposition, commemorating the 400 year anniversary of Columbus’ landing on American soil. They used one of the most technologically advanced cities in the United States to show how far they had come. Everything about the Columbian Exposition blew the minds of the 300,000 plus individuals that attended it. Most of this had to do with electricity and the major milestones it had passed such as the push of a button controlling something huge and

However there were several other extremely practical inventions brought to light that we still use every day. The most useful was the zipper, although it was not officially named the zipper until 1917 by B.F. Goodrich. The fan favorite was most likely Cracker Jack popcorn, which was invented by Frederick William Rueckheim. Another tow that people love and still use today Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Mix and Wrigley’s chewing gum. With great inventions, however, comes some of the worst inventions known to man. Those that make most people cringe when thinking about, but have become the staple of “the redneck south”: Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. The most iconic invention of the Columbian Exposition was the Ferris wheel. It was America’s answer to France’s Eiffel Tower and even stood taller than it. The cars held 90 people total and took two revolutions around, showing the guests everything at the fair for a mere 50 cents per

The answer is AC or alternating current, invented by Nikola Tesla. Although alternating current had been invented before the fair and was not first being unveiled there, the Hall of Machinery held the largest AC central station in existence at that time. It powered every lightbulb and invention at the fair, including the Ferris wheel. After the exposition, over half of all new electrical devices began to be run on AC current, rather than the previously used DC