World's Columbian Exposition

The World’s Columbian Exposition was among the highest attended events during in 1893. The World’s Fair as it was known to the world, broadcasted various inventions that were deemed revolutionary. America was in the midst of the Gilded Age and Chicago was believed to be an acceptable location for this fair. Chicago was celebrating the four hundred year anniversary of Columbus’ arrival to the Americas and it seemed fitting for an outstanding presentation for middle class Americans and attendees throughout the world. Our research will focus on the importance of the Columbian World’s fair and why it was invested primarily in the northwestern part of the country, Chicago at the end of the Gilded Age, and the middle class of the population who attended

During the period of the Gilded Age, there was a transformation in American history, which situated thousands of new immigrants from Europe and China with hopes of heightening up the labor force of different industries like construction, factories, railroads, and coal mining. In this time of increased “mechanization of industry”, there were many factory workers and warehouse laborers that entered in a new middle class. During the 1870s and 1880s, the U.S. economy rose at its fastest rate in history: there was an increase of real wages, wealth, GDP, and capital formation. Overall, America was beginning to provide a working-middle class that was in search of mass leisure and mass consumption. The World’s Fair in 1893, had a need for much of the public to hold such a commemorate gathering. Chicago was in the middle of rapid growth; with the heightening of urbanization there was a construction craze of skyscrapers. This expansion gave rise to electric trolleys, street railways, elevated railways and subways. The Columbian World’s Fair was planned in the early 1890s during this Gilded Age, and as such much of the organization of the fair led to the management by Chicago steel tycoon Charles H. Schwab and Chicago railroad magnate John Whitefield Bunn. The World’s Fair of London in 1851 called the Crystal Palace Exhibition was extremely successful in bringing crowds from all sorts of class lines to show off the exposition. This was basically Chicago’s turn to fulfill the best and score major points in the world’s view of exposure to the iconic features of the end of the