Chicago Fair History

In Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, Larson brought up the stories of origins if the fair, its purpose, and the impact that it had on America. Many unpopular products have become trends and the presence of those trends can still be seen today. The Chicago Fair made electricity a popular demand in business, brought new cultural trends to life, and guided us towards a more consumer-based society such as the modern one in which we live in; it even invented the Juicy Fruit gum. Due to the vast amount of people the fair brought in, the influence remained long-term. When Daniel Burnham was deciding which company to sign with for the use of their electricity and installment of it, he went with the company that would install Tesla’s current electricity; not Edison’s. This meant that Tesla’s generators would be pumping electricity throughout the vast park. The lights illuminated the park at night and awed all who saw them. With so much electricity and the Fair as a symbol of progress of …show more content…
Though many villages from around the country were brought, many new American cultural trends were brought about from the Fair, such as the pledge of allegiance which was created by a teacher who wanted all students to have a national pledge as commemorations to the Chicago Fair and succeeded. It even made carbonated drinks aka “soda” and hamburgers very popular as American food/beverages afterwards. Ideas and places also influenced our American society by introducing the idea of amusement parks which eventually led to parks such as Cooney Island and Disneyland from Buffalo Bill’s Wild Show. Art and science museums starting popping up afterwards as well. Modern music was also affected by giving inspirations to many people who would write songs used by most marching bands today and the mysterious tune used in most Hollywood movies about the Middle East and belly