Inventing Madness

The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

"I exhibited some of my newest inventions at the World's Columbian Exposition. It was a celebration to commemorate the four-hundred-year anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The theme or centerpiece of the fair was a large water pool, which represented the long voyage Columbus had taken to the New World.

" and designed the World's Columbian Exposition. It was their vision of what an ideal city should be. The fair also served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the , which had destroyed much of the city in 1871.

"The exposition took place on more than six hundred sprawling acres, featuring nearly two hundred new buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, and , and people and cultures from forty-six countries. More than twenty-seven million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. It was truly a site to behold!

"Dedication ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not actually opened to the public until May 1, 1893. The exposition continued until October 30, 1893.

"I have a newspaper article here about the exposition. It describes events that took place on October 9, 1893, the day designated as Chicago Day. On that day, the article states, the exposition set a world record for outdoor event attendance, drawing 716,881 people to the event."

Mr. Edison handed the newspaper article to me.

"Both Tesla and I wanted to win the bid to light the World's Columbian Exposition. We both realized that whoever won the bid would soon light the world. I was backed with money from J. P. Morgan and General Electric while Tesla was financially backed by Westinghouse. General Electric Company's first bid to light the fair was $1.8 million. That bid did not go over well. J. P. Morgan and I submitted a second bid for $554,000. We found out later that Westinghouse and Tesla had submitted a bid proposal to light the fair for $399,000. Westinghouse and Tesla won the bid to electrify the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago with alternating current.

"Tesla originally planned on using our GE bulbs for the fair, but I, still miffed about losing the bid, would not sell the bulbs to him. Unfortunately they came up with a more efficient double-stopper lightbulb to use. It was a key event in the history of AC power. At the fair, Tesla was able to demonstrate a series of electrical effects in a lecture that he had previously performed throughout America and Europe. This included using high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current to light a wireless gas-discharged lamp.

"At the time of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago was an exciting, crowded and bustling city. In the 1890s, about a thousand trains a day entered or left the city. Anonymous deaths were a frequent occurrence. The newspapers back then stated an average of two people a day were killed at the city's rail crossings. Horses bolted and dragged carriages into crowds, stepping on and then rolling over people. Fires took a dozen lives a day. Diseases like diphtheria, typhus, cholera and influenza were prevalent.

"And there were many murders. During the Chicago World's Fair, the rate of murder rose sharply throughout the nation, but especially in Chicago, where police found themselves without the manpower or expertise to manage the volume. In the first six months of 1892, the year prior to the opening of the fair, the city experienced nearly eight hundred violent deaths.

"Chicago was also one of the largest cities known for slaughtering and packaging pigs and cattle. The scent of blood in the air from the slaughterhouses was prevalent when I stepped off the train in May 1893.

"The World's Columbian Exposition, by contrast, had such a unique, pristine air about it . . . a fantasy world. It was what everyone dreamed the world should be like . . . so different from the real Chicago. Amazing new inventions and products were introduced to the world at the exposition such as the magnificent Ferris wheel and products such as Cracker Jacks, Juicy Fruit gum, Quaker Oats, Cream of Wheat, and one of my favorites, chocolate bars introduced by Milton Hershey.