Erik Larson offered us an intertwined narrative of the Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the architect of the exposition Daniel Hudson Burnham, and the infamy of a contemporaneous serial killer Herman Webster Mudgett (aka Dr. Henry Howard Holmes) in his 2003 book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.
(Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City).
The two biggest stories of The Devil in the White City included were the fact of the world’s fair in Chicago, Illinois as well as the contemporaneous operation of a serial killer in the same region. The era of the exposition story began following the American Civil War, in the aftermath of Reconstruction Era yet before the before the economic Panic of 1893 began to capture its legs.
(Daniel Hudson Burnham).
The awarding of the 1893 was decided largely by the United States Congress around 1891. Other cities in the running for the Columbian Exposition included New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. After a series of votes by Congress that ultimately witnessed the serious contention being between Chicago and New York City, the Midwestern city won the prize. Daniel Hudson Burnham ultimately was named the chief architect for the exposition.
(Herman Webster Mudgett (aka Dr. Henry Howard Holmes)).
Before getting too far into that story and the telling of how Burnham became the architect, we did learn about his schooling and his architectural business partner, John Wellborn Root. We also learned of the background of one Herman Webster Mudgett, a confidence man who we first learn could not pass pharmacy school. Mudgett, who we later learn is skilled at forming fictitious individuals, supporting documentation, and the gaining of trust from bankers, employees, and ladies in Chicago, both established and new to the city. One of Mudgett‘s prominent aliases was as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes.
(Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893).
The larger story introduced us through Burnham and Mudgett was the planning and growth of the notion of city from a largely agrarian background. Both shared a certain degree of ambition pointed in different directions. Burnham wanted to grow something that surpassed The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889). The Paris Exposition drew magnificent crowds and demonstrated the new fangled Eiffel Tower, which stands today. The Chicago Expostion’s answer to this was the first ever Ferris Wheel.
(The Ferris Wheel).
George W. Ferris invented the Ferris Wheel, which took the principle of two concentric circles with a load of passenger-carrying vehicles between them to new heights. Placed on the midway of the fair, the notion of a midway with a Ferris Wheel (or Eiffel Tower) at one extreme became the standard of Amusement Parks, Theme Parks, and carnivals that would follow in the next century. The father of Roy Disney and Walt Disney, Elias Disney, helped build Chicago’s Columbian Exposition.
(The Ferris Wheel).
While much of the effort of building the grounds of the exposition were experiencing their starts, stops, and complications, we witnessed Herman Webster Mudgett use less than ethical means to acquire a pharmacy from a widow. We saw the explanation of her disappearance fabricated by Mudgett. Other ladies and children would disappear at the hands of Mudgett, with little in the way of suspicion being cast his way in terms of suspicion until such time as the life insurance companies pressed their cases. Herman Webster Mudgett used his falsely made wealth to build a death house that led multiple murders at his, Mudgett‘s, hands.
(The Palace of Fine Arts – now The Museum of Science and Industry).
The official opening of the Columbian Exposition occurred in the fall of 1892, to coincide with the actual date of Christopher Columbus‘ arrival in the new world. The actual event ran from May through October of 1893. The exposition included many temporary built in an ornate Neoclassical style and painted white. It was the white painting at the fair site that led to the Exposition being called the White City.
(The Grand Basin).
L. Frank Baum, writer of The Wizard of Oz book, was said to have been inspired by the grandeur of Chicago Exposition when creating his series of books. The use of Westinghouse alternating current incandescent light bulbs was proven at the fair. Shredded Wheat as a product was introduced at the fair.
(The Court of Honor).
Herman Webster Mudgett would be caught and found guilty of some of his crimes after having taken at least two of his victims to the Columbian Exposition. Daniel Hudson Burnham helped plan the cities of Cleveland, San Francisco, and Manilla before having influence upon the ribbon of lakefront parks and the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue within Chicago. Burnham Park became a thing after the exposition, in part to honor the architect. Modern day Solider Field and the Field Museum are located within that park. The Palace of Fine Arts became the modern day Museum of Science and Industry.
The narrative style of The Devil in White City made for the telling of non-fiction in a means familiar to fiction readers. The stories were compelling, if not falling into the macabre when discussing the Murder Castle of Herman Webster Mudgett and such. Erik Larson depicted two of Mudgett‘s murders following research at libraries. I enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to those interested both in true crime as well as tales of the Chicago Exposition. My grade is 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars.
Matt – Saturday, January 19, 2019
(Robert Caro wrote Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing in addition to books that won the Pulitzer Prize).
(Robert Caro is known for covering the acquisition and exercise of power through reviews of public figures Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson).
(Robert Caro won the Pulitzer Prize for his books The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York and Master Of The Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson).
(Robert Caro as a younger man).
Matt Lynn Digital 