C.D. Arnold Photographic Collection

In the late 1880s Chicago was among the cities vying for the privilege of hosting a World’s Fair celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. By 1890 Chicago had bested the other contenders and been chosen as the host city.

Although the World’s Columbian Exposition did not open until May 1, 1893 and ran for only six months, it drew more than 27 million people from around the world. The Fair was widely celebrated, but its physical manifestation was transitory. Exhibits were returned to lenders or dispersed. Most fair buildings were temporary structures made with iron, steel and timber covered with a degradable material called “staff,” a combination of plaster, cement and jute fibers. The only remaining building on the fairgrounds is the Palace of Fine Arts, now the Museum of Science and Industry.

A visual record of the Fair survives in photographs, most notably in those by architectural photographer Charles Dudley Arnold (1844-1927). The Fair’s directors commissioned Arnold to be the Exposition’s official photographer. They wanted celebratory views of the Fair, and Arnold delivered magnificent plates. He documented the Exposition from its construction, beginning in 1891, to its closing and aftermath in the winter of 1893-1894. Arnold’s photographs trace the metamorphosis of Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side from a mossy, damp area to the thriving and beautiful “Dream City,” complete with massive, neoclassical exposition buildings, waterways reminiscent of Venice, sculptured gardens and amusement park attractions.