World's Fair
As the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas approached, the United States planned to hold a world's fair to celebrate. This was considered an important time, due to the French successes at the previous World's Fair with the construction of the Eiffel Tower.
The prestige of holding the fair enticed several prominent cities to compete to host the fair. At the top, New York City, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. all fought hard for the right and many New Yorkers thought they had a win guaranteed. In the end, it came down to New York and Chicago. In 1890, Chicago won the bid to host the World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, after eight ballots. Many prominent New Yorkers were extremely irritated that a "frontier town" could beat them.
It is a popular myth that the first person to use the term "Windy City" was The New York Sun editor, Charles Dana. Charles Dana was New York's leading fair booster, but there is little evidence that he ever used the "Windy City" term. The first known attribution of Dana to the origin of "Windy City" was in the Chicago Tribune, "Chicago Dubbed 'Windy' in Fight for Fair of '93," June 11, 1933:
| “ | "Don’t pay any attention", wrote Charles A. Dana, day in and day out in his New York Sun, "to the nonsensical claims of that windy city. Its people could not build a World’s Fair even if they won it". | ” |
Read more about this topic: Origin Of The Name "Windy City"
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or fair:
“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”
—Rachel Carson (20th century)
“Talleyrand said that two things are essential in life: to give good dinners and to keep on fair terms with women. As the years pass and fires cool, it can become unimportant to stay always on fair terms either with women or one’s fellows, but a wide and sensitive appreciation of fine flavours can still abide with us, to warm our hearts.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (b. 1908)