50 free Chicago World's Fair 1893 trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago's Jackson Park on May 1, 1893, four centuries after Columbus and two decades after the Great Chicago Fire. Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted built a temporary neoclassical "White City" that drew 27 million visitors, introduced the Ferris wheel and the word "midway", and let Westinghouse's alternating current beat Edison in the war of the currents. These 50 questions cover how Chicago beat New York for the fair, the architects behind the great buildings, the Ferris wheel's size and fate, Buffalo Bill's show next door, Little Egypt, Scott Joplin, Swami Vivekananda, Helen Keller and Katharine Lee Bates, the products that debuted, the buildings that survived and the mayor's assassination two days before closing. Easy questions cover the nickname and the headline attractions; the expert tier asks about ballots, bids and building designers. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The 1893 fair marked the 400th anniversary of what?
Columbus's 1492 landing
The centrepiece pool in Jackson Park represented the voyage itself.
Q 02What was the fair's official name?
World's Columbian Exposition
The others were the Philadelphia 1876, Buffalo 1901 and St. Louis 1904 fairs.
Q 03What nickname did the fairgrounds earn from their gleaming façades?
White City
Critics sniffed that the neoclassical buildings were just "decorated sheds".
Q 04The fair's Ferris wheel was designed to rival which structure from the 1889 Paris fair?
Eiffel Tower
At 264 feet it was the tallest attraction in Chicago, though far short of the 1,063-foot tower.
Q 05Where in Chicago was the fair held?
Jackson Park
The swampy site was returned to parkland afterwards in far better shape than before.
Q 06The fair aimed to show Chicago had recovered from a great fire in which year?
1871
The fair was also a jobs windfall during a serious national recession.
Q 07Who was the fair's director of works, in charge of its architecture?
Daniel Burnham
He later drew up the 1909 Plan of Chicago, commissioned after the fair's success.
Q 08Which electrical system won the contract to light the fair?
Westinghouse's alternating current
The win was a decisive blow in the so-called war of the currents.
Q 09Financiers from which rival offered $15m if Congress gave them the fair?
New York City
J. P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Waldorf Astor were among the backers.
Q 10Denied a spot, where did Buffalo Bill stage his Wild West show?
Just outside the fairgrounds
He kept all the revenue, which the fair's developers later saw as a costly mistake.
Q 11Who wrote the 2003 bestseller pairing the fair's architect with killer H. H. Holmes?
Erik Larson
The book also chronicles how much of the fair was still unfinished on opening day.
Q 12The fair's Palace of Fine Arts reopened in 1933 as which institution?
Museum of Science and Industry
It was completely rebuilt in permanent materials before reopening.
Q 13Which chewing gum is listed among products that debuted at the fair?
Juicy Fruit
Quaker Oats, Shredded Wheat and Pabst Blue Ribbon are on the same list.
Q 21Which Marvel series set an episode titled "1893" at the fair?
Loki
Loki and Mobius go there hunting Ravonna Renslayer and meet Victor Timely.
Q 22The dancer Little Egypt performed in which Midway attraction?
Street in Cairo
Her "hootchy-kootchy" tune, improvised by Sol Bloom, became the stock snake-charmer melody.
Q 23Which historian lectured at the fair on the closing of the American frontier?
Frederick Jackson Turner
His Frontier Thesis was delivered near Buffalo Bill's show, which embodied the very frontier he was mourning.
Q 14Which landscape architect laid out the fairgrounds?
Frederick Law Olmsted
The lagoon he shaped still laps the steps of the old Palace of Fine Arts.
Q 15Roughly how many people attended the fair over its six-month run?
27 million
Chicago Day alone drew 751,026, then a world record for an outdoor event.
Q 16How tall was the original Ferris wheel?
264 feet
Its 36 cars could each carry 40 people.
Q 17The Ferris wheel was finally moved to which later world's fair?
St. Louis 1904
It was demolished in 1906; its 70-ton axle was reportedly found buried nearby in 2007.
Q 18Which designer made his reputation with a chapel built for the fair?
Louis Comfort Tiffany
The chapel was sold several times and since 1999 has sat in the Morse Museum in Florida.
Q 19Which chocolate maker bought German machinery he saw at the fair to launch his company?
Milton S. Hershey
The equipment came from exhibitor J. M. Lehmann.
Q 20The fair is commemorated by one of the stars on what?
Chicago's municipal flag
Its debt was soon paid off with a single $1.5 million cheque.
Q 24Which Hindu monk gave the "Sisters and Brothers of America" speech at the fair?
Swami Vivekananda
He spoke at the Parliament of the World's Religions, the first formal East-West interfaith gathering.
Q 25Whose visit to the fair inspired the "alabaster cities" line in America the Beautiful?
Katharine Lee Bates
The Wellesley English teacher visited in early July 1893.
Q 26Which famous deaf-blind author toured the fair with Alexander Graham Bell in 1893?
Helen Keller
She described the visit in her autobiography The Story of My Life.
Q 27What patriotic recitation was first performed at the fair by massed schoolchildren?
The Pledge of Allegiance
The children were lined up in military fashion for the performance.
Q 28Which ragtime pianist from Texarkana became widely known for playing at the fair?
Scott Joplin
Sissieretta Jones, the "Black Patti", and violinist Joseph Douglass also performed.
Q 29Whose football team, the Maroons, were the original "Monsters of the Midway"?
University of Chicago
The campus was being built beside the Midway Plaisance as the fair was closing.
Q 30Which young music promoter developed the fair's Midway amusement area?
Sol Bloom
He later spent decades in Congress; the word "midway" entered American English through the fair.