The World's Fair is still in operation. The Museum of Science and Industry is the only significant structure from the 1893 World's Fair still standing. Unlike the other structures that were destroyed after the fair, the Palace of Fine Arts (as it was named) endured. It has been used for various exhibitions and is now a public park called Art Institute of Chicago.
Why are they called the "Museum of Science and Industry" instead of just the "Science Museum" or the "Industry Museum"? The name "museum" implies that this is a collection of art or archaeology that shows the development of mankind from its earliest times through today. When the Fair first opened, it was not known as a museum. It was called the "World's Columbian Exposition". Later, to distinguish it from other museums in Chicago, it was called simply the "Exposition". In 1892, when it was time to choose a new name for the facility, people started calling it a "museum". By then, it was too late to change it back.
Does the Art Institute have any relation to the World's Fair? No, the two events are completely separate things. The Art Institute is a private non-profit organization that owns several important works of art. It was established in 1879 by a group of local businessmen who wanted to show America's love for her own country by giving it a great art collection.
Relics of the Chicago World's Fair The museum likewise relocated in 1920, to a new location closer to the downtown Loop commercial sector, leaving the Palace of Fine Arts vacant. The Museum of Science and Industry, was opened just in time for the 1933 World's Fair, moved in. It too left the palace empty after the expo closed.
The Chicago World's Fair was held from June 24 to October 31, 1893. An estimated six million people visited the fair, which was located on 400 acres of land donated by Henry Crown and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. The original plan was to have eight monumental structures to showcase American industry but only four were completed before the fair ended. The others were still under construction when the exhibition closed down. These were: the Illinois Central Railroad Pavilion, now known as the Art Institute of Chicago; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (LPE) Building, which is today's Museum of Science and Industry (MSI); the Missouri Pacific Railway Pavilion, now known as the Chicago History Center; and the Pennsylvania Station Building, which is now a hotel.
Of all the buildings at the fair, only the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago History Center remain today as they were in 1953, when they first opened their doors to the public. The other three are now museums or landmarks of some sort.
L'Illustration, Paris, 1854-11-11, Palais de l'exposition universelle (Palais de l'industrie) les Champs-Elysees. The Palais de l'Industrie on the Champs Elysees was the Fair's primary structure (it was destroyed at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Grand Palais was built for the 1900 World Fair). It was an architectural landmark that dominated the scene of world exhibitions until the opening of the Louvre as a world's fair site in 1937.
The Palais de l'Industrie was designed by Charles Garnier, and it was he too who gave the structure its now famous silhouette: a tall, thin tower with a dome at the top. The building was meant to resemble an industrial furnace, and this comparison certainly fits: at its height, it was the tallest building in Europe. The interior of the palace was decorated by French artists and architects including Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Pierre-Charles Benoît Cazeau. There were also foreign exhibitors, such as the United States, which displayed its capital city Washington at the World's Fair.
After the World's Fair, the building became the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It still stands today near the Place du Trocadéro in Paris, and is currently used by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The Museum of Science and Industry is situated in one of the two remaining World's Fair buildings from 1893. The vast Neo-classical monument, known as the Palace of Fine Arts, is an exact replica of Daniel Burnham's vision of a classically inspired White City. It is one of the largest shells in the world and was originally built for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (also known as the St. Louis World's Fair) which was held in St. Louis from April 30 to October 3, 1904.
The fair also featured a large number of exhibits from around the world. One such exhibit was the Midway, where attendees could enjoy rides, games, and other attractions. Today, the term "midway" means any large collection of rides or games at a circus, carnival, festival, or similar event. The Midway at the Chicago World's Fair was quite an innovation at the time because up until that point, fairgoers usually just saw the livestock shows or plowed fields.
Another remaining structure from the World's Fair is the Illinois Building, which is now a museum dedicated to human history through art. The building was designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw and is considered one of the first examples of American architecture to use steel frames and concrete instead of wood and stone. It opened in 1930 and replaced the International Exhibition Hall which had been built for the World's Columbian Exposition two years earlier.
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