Perspective

It is 1893. Fluorescent light bulbs are just starting to become available to a broader section of the public and Charles Darwin just released his theory of natural selection. The Great Chicago Fire, a disaster that decimated close to one third of the city, had happened a mere 22 years earlier. Chicago in 1893 sets the stage for the World's Fair. Of the roughly 67 million-person population, 25 million people went to the fair. Some even mortgaged their house to be able to go! It was an event like none other and helped to put Chicago back on the map. The fair also featured the world’s first Ferris Wheel! If anyone has been to Chicago, the sight of a gigantic (not the original, however) Ferris wheel on Navy Pier is in part a symbol of Chicago. The fair was a way for the city to showcase itself as well as show people things that they had never even thought could exist.

The debut of the great Ferris Wheel in 1893

A modern Ferris Wheel is located today at Navy Pier and overlooks the Chicago Skyline

It is hard to imagine the world in 1893. Instead of the largely scientific based minds of today, many more people relied heavily on religion to explain mysteries of nature. The idea of natural selection and evolution was very new at this point in time and I am sure many people did not believe in it at all. Ideas of space and the universe were even more mystifying. Meteorites on display were accompanied by signs explaining their mysterious origin from the sky. One meteorite was blessed and kept in a church to pray over. Another meteorite, I am only assuming one that did damage when it fell, was kept locked up in a cell so its evil could not escape.

The World’s Fair also featured items and goods from countries all over the world. Imagine seeing a stuffed lion, an elephant skeleton, dyes from India, and wheat from Russia for the first time! How large the world must have seemed then, to be seeing and learning about some of these things for the first time!

An image from the Fair of a Russian Exhibit

The world was so vast and unexplored to the majority of the population at the time that it also led to ignorance and lack of education about certain cultures. Displays from cultures and countries all over the world depicted Native Americans as savages that were far less superior to the white man. Hunting gear and other tools from African culture displayed the people to be very primitive and fierce – a people far below those viewing the booths in Chicago. I feel that looking back on how people viewed the modern world in 1893 shows us today how much the human race has progressed and grown through science and technology – for the better and the worse.

I like to imagine myself as someone attending the Worlds Fair in 1893. I would be baffled by how much was in the world that I had never known about before. I would gaze at the lion and try to imagine that something that big and ferocious existed out there somewhere. Would the meteorites make me wonder about the possibilities other planets or just make me have more respect for God? I wonder what my idea of the future would be? If my 1893 self could time travel and meet my 2013 self, I bet I would be amazed and boggled by how much the world has advanced. Cartoons like the Jetsons wouldn’t air for another 70 years. And even though the Jetsons era seemed to think that we would all be driving hover cars by now, I still think they would be impressed by our modern day world.

Modern windmills now tower over fields of cows and wooden farmhouses - changing the landscape dramatically

Today we take things like laundry machines, cars that can go 120mph, MapQuest, and GPS for granted. I have travelled all over the world and stay in contact with my new friends with the help of technology like Facebook and Skype. I carry a phone the size of my palm around that can calculate tips on restaurant bills, check my email, take pictures, watch videos, and record voice notes. We watch movies in 3-D, 4-D, HD, and on Ultrascreens and then can buy them digitally from a tablet. Just look at all the thrill rides at your nearest amusement park – where the Ferris Wheel was the highlight of the World’s Fair in 1893, it is probably now one of the more boring rides offered today. No matter what I want to do or where I want to go, there is some sort of technology that will make it easier for me. Penicillin was not discovered until 1928 – can you imagine what they would think when they see us take a pill and magically fight off infection or prevent a disease? Knowledge about everything and anything is easily accessible – literally just a click or two away. Stepping back and thinking about how far and fast this world has progressed is quite amazing. Human curiosity and human ingenuity is a natural thing that is always going to press us onwards and forwards. Looking back, it is hard to distinguish what creations and inventions were more helpful or harmful to humankind. Who knows what the world will be like in another 120 years?