World's Columbian Exposition Opens

The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 1 to October 30, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.^¹ The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage that Columbus took to the New World.^¹ Chicago won the right to host the fair over several competing cities, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and St.^¹ Louis. The exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on American architecture, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago's image.^¹