Expo - Magic of the White City on PBS World

Famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted created the magical White City fairgrounds from a swamp along Lake Michigan.

 

On May 1, 1893, over 300,000 people gathered in Chicago for the opening day of the World's Columbian Exposition.

Narrated by Gene Wilder, Expo - Magic of the White City immerses viewers in one of American history's grandest spectacles.

Expo - Magic of the White City airs Tuesday, July 27 at 7 p.m. on PBS World (cable 524/DT21.2).

Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893 unveiled many of the Victorian era's greatest achievements in art, architecture, science, technology and culture, including world "firsts" like the Ferris Wheel. The number of exhibits and size of the fairgrounds, designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, surpassed even that of the 1889 Paris World's Fair, where the Eiffel Tower debuted. For six months, the Expo showcased the cutting-edge work of established inventors like Thomas Edison, which in turn, inspired 20th-century innovators such as Henry Ford, Frank Lloyd Wright and Walt Disney.