Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1891 — FOR THE WORLD’S FAIR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOR THE WORLD’S FAIR.

What Is Being Bone for the jSxhibitlon of 1893. Work on the Chicago Exhibition grounds is already well under wav. The contractors have scores of men at work in Jackson Park. They will begin dredging and filling unimproved sections of the park. The first work done will be on the lake shore. That will be put in condition to enable the directors to stake off the foundations of such buildings as will be located on that Dart of the site.. From the lagoons that will lead from Lake Michigan through this section of the park 206,700 cubic yards of sand will be removed. This will be used to raise the level of the low park area. Other excavations will furnish 184,700 cubic yards of sand for filling, leaving 243,250 cubic yards of sand to be brought in from other sources. After this has been dumped in the marshes 43,600 cubic yards of black earth will be required for surfacing the area, making a total of 1,070,650 cubic yards that must be handled by the contractors. Of this aggregate 64,650 cubic yards will be taken from places that will have to be refilled, and 83,950 yards placed where transportation to another place will be necessary. By spring the unimproved area of Jackson Park ought to be ready for the buildings. Ten architects will then be drawing plans for these structures, and, besides, the different State Boards will be getting their designs for buildings. There can be no delay then, and Jackson Park will present an appearance of activity that will put an end to all stories about our inability to have the buildings finished in time for the exposition. The plans for a magnificent main palace and for a machinery hail are now being considered by the Executive Committee of the Columbian Fair. The buildings proposed are 600 by 1,800 feet, ten stories high. A peculiar feature of the buildings is a recently patented truss that would rest upon the dome and support a tower from 700 to 1,200 feet high, just as the Directors, saw fit to build. At a distance it would look like a city. There would be forty-five entrances to the main palace, seven of w hich would lead by covered campaniles. From twentyfour to fifty of these could be used. To the central hall there would be eight entrances, 50 feet wide by 100 feet high. On each side of the central dome

there will be an annexation 900 feet long, 415 feet wide, and three stories high. Other annexations, 400 by 800 feet, cut them at right angles. There is a great court in the center of the palace, 700 by 1,400 feet. This could be used for a garden. The outside appearance of the front elevation is a gable in Oriental and Mauresque style, broken by tow'ers, with campaniles, bay windows, and balconies. The side elevations are composed of sixteen bay windows with allegoric panels. The glass roof, 100 feet high, is divided into small colonettes, surmounted by arches. These add beauty to the main front. The architect claims that in the central halls three or more railway tracks could be laid, so that steam cars could enter and depart without delay. The entire palace, he estimates, would cost $3,200,000, and the machinery hall not to exceed $1,800,000.

PRESENT ASPECT OF THE WORLD'S FAIR SITE.