Documents in Year 1893                     

Links of Interest:

• Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third U.S. President

(1889-1893) Harrison lobbied successfully for the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, requiring the government to use silver in its coinage. The redemption of silver dangerously depleted U.S. reserves during the ensuing Panic of 1893 forcing the bill to be repealed.

• Grover Cleveland, Twenty-fourth U.S. President (second term)

(1893-1897) Their first child age one, Ruth, was so popular that the candy bar, Baby Ruth, was named after her. People took keen interest in the birth of Esther at the White House mansion in 1893.

• 2009 White House Christmas Ornament honoring Grover Cleveland's 2nd term

• National Parks - John Muir

John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892 and his influence as an environmentalist impacted politicians. The federal government set aside thirteen million acres for forest reserves in 1893.
Lasky, Kathryn John Muir America's First Environmentalist Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2006.

Technology:

• The Men Who Built America (Electricity)

The world's largest power plant is being built at Niagara Falls and will be able to power the Northeast. Morgan/Edison and Westinghouse/Tesla put in their bids. Westinghouse Electric/Tesla won the bid to design the AC system in 1893 and it was built by 1895.

Westinghouse/Tesla also put in a bid at 1/4 the price of Morgan/Edison to light the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.

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World Fair celebrating the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492

(401 years due to government delays)
World's Columbian Exposition
Chicago, Illinois U.S. in 1893

(1 May - 31 October)
2nd of 8 World Fairs held in America - 1876, 1893, 1904, 1915, 1933, 1939, 1962, 1964

Location: Jackson Park (686 acres)

Architectural Wonder: the buildings were arranged around a symmetrical pool, the Court of Honor, and covered with bright white plaster to appear as marble and were illuminated at night with 200,000 electric light bulbs provided by Westinghouse Electric and Tesla with Alternating Current (AC) naming it the "White City."

Visitors: 27.3 million, (U.S. Population at 52 million)
Participating Nations: 50; 39 states, 18 foreign nations erected buildings toward progress

Novelties: the Ferris Wheel (50 cents, half a day's wage for a working man), hand-held cameras, the radio, electric train, and moving sidewalk to carry fairgoers from the entry pier to the fairgrounds. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

Caroli,  Betty Boyd.The Roosevelt Women 1998, New York: New York. p. 95.

Mattie, Erik World's Fairs Princeton Architectural Press, 1998, New York: New York.

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