Colorado Goes to the Fair: World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893

Chapter 3: Surprise to the World

29 Surprise to the World Chapter 3 The autumnal sky is blue like June’s, The wooded isle is sere below Reflected in the still lagoons Beneath the full moon’s brilliant glow. Around the wondrous buildings show Their sculpture roofs and domes and towers, Ten thousand lamps blaze in the jet Of water, shadowed nook, and tree; Above, the stars again are met. This is a heavenly fantasy— Ah, that this dream should ever cease to be. And lo! Ho white, how glorious These fanes and temples now appear; How pure a mood is now o’er us. —Edgar Lee Masters, “The White City” a fair to honor the discovery of the new world—what a wonderful idea. Coloradans had been well aware of the possibility of a world’s fair. Since 1889, they had read about cities angling to gain the honor and speculated about what Colorado’s possible role might be. Then speculation and rumor became fact. “The people of this cosmopolitan city have been granted the privilege of a great fair.” The location was chosen ...