World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition (the official shortened name for the World's Fair: Columbian Exposition, also known as The Chicago World's Fair) was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492.

Chicago won the honor of hosting the fair and defeated New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St. Louis of hosting the fair.

The fair was an influential social and cultural event. At the fair many inventors such as Thomas Edison, Milton S. Hershey, Nikola Tesla, George Ferris, and Marshall Field were there. Many other famous people were there too such as President Grover Cleveland, Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, Scott Joplin, Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., and Daniel Burnham.

The exposition was where many famous inventions were first presented and many modern items such as the Ferris wheel, Quaker Oats, Hershey's, the Frontier thesis was presented, and the United States Mint, in the United States of America, offered its first commemorative coins.


World's Columbian Exposition Media