Devil In The White City Blog 3

Extended Reflection Journal: In what ways does the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 change America? What lasting inventions and ideas did it introduce into American culture? What important figures were critically influenced by the Fair?

The World's Fair changed American in more ways than imaginable. The Fair was a huge turning point for technology of the time and social and political aspects of American life. It changed what many other nations and people thought that America could create and accomplish. It was unlike anything else ever seen in America. The Fair helped America on its way to becoming a huge world power and leading the world in industrial and economic change and success. The fair changed how the rest of the world saw America as a country and as a world power. The fair influenced American and the rest of the world for generations to come, not only the few decades after the actual Fair. The World's Colombian Exposition established a Neo-Classical revival in Chicago and across America, thus changing American ideals and creating a entirely new way to view America. This global phenomenon of a fair changed culture, fashion, food, transportation and the ways in which tourists viewed architecture, and how these building defied gravity to create a whole new world to those who visited the fair. The fair was so new to everyone, that it baffled and wowed, and left many awestruck and excited. The buildings and new architecture of the fair helped to create this image of America as well, including the Ferris Wheel, and Thomas Edison's light tower of colorful choreographed lights dancing to the music. The exhibition halls housed new inventions and appliances for the home and farm, many of them powered by electricity changing the way home and farm worked. The new forms of electricity found at the fair were amazing and new and exciting, including, but not limited to electric incubators for chicken eggs, electric chairs for executions, an electric sidewalk, an early fax machine that sent pictures over telegraph lines, electric irons, sewing machines and laundry machines, and Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, the first moving pictures. The new inventions of the time pulled in visitors and customers, leaving more and more profit for the fair than anyone could've imagined. Food was also a big part of the fair, leading to the creation of many well known brands of today, and common foods for the 1800's and still today, including gums, hamburger, cream of wheat, quaker oats, and shredded wheat. Aunt Jemima and Heinz were also new to the era, and created quite a frenzy of food madness. Many architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, and of course Burnham and Root, were involved in the production of the fair, leaving more room for improvement in architecture and such. The many visitors of the fair throughout its existence saw sights unlike anything else, and truly witnessed America change and grow socially. Buffalo Bill Cody, Thomas Edison, Susan B. Anthony were all greatly influenced by the creation and execution of the fair, making their ideas and beliefs readily available to the public eye for scrutiny, and helped them gain fame and popularity. The tourists, architects, city dwellers, and social activists of the time truly saw the change brought to America by the great World's Fair of the late 1800's.