Chicago 1893 World's Fair Columbian Exposition Jackson Park Walking Tour

Chicago hosted the World's Fair in 1893 and it was the culminating event of the Gilded Age. Chicago built a dreamy White City on Lake Michigan -- an exemplar of city planning and an exhaustive exposition of Modernity. Today we can hardly believe the scale and Romanesque grandeur of this event. And because it was all built to be destroyed after six months, it remains mysterious. Very few traces of the fair remain today. Yet ever since, the 1893 Fair has lived in memory, capturing the imagination of generations, and casting a vast civic legacy in Chicago. Although the Fair buildings are mostly gone, on this tour we will walk outdoors through Jackson Park as though we were touring the World's Fair. We will use old maps to trace out where the fair buildings were, and observe the intact landscapes and remaining relics. We will learn the history of the fair where it happened, illuminated with historical maps and photographs, and appreciate why the Fair still matters today.

This is an walking tour outdoors in Jackson Park -- we will be walking intensively on pavement and grass. Plan to be outdoors for the whole tour -- best to bring a jacket, even in good weather. We will have a bathroom stop early in the tour. - The tour starts in the north -- in front of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. We will explore some ruins and remnants in this area. - Next we will walk toward the lake, then south toward where fairgoers would arrive by boat. - Then we will cut back west, where the Court of Honor once lay, toward "the Golden Lady" statue, which memorializes the fair. -- Next we will head back north through Woody Island, observing Yoko Ono's public art piece and the Phoenix Garden. -- Finally, we will observe the Clarence Darrow Bridge, the Obama Presidential Library and Museum, and end at the site of the Midway (site of the first Ferris Wheel). -- Tour will end in front of the Obama Presidential Library - Stoney Island Avenue and 59th Street