Jackson Park has an awesome Japanese garden that is also a remnant of the 1893 World’s Fair. It is behind the Museum of Science and Industry. The pond behind the MSI is part of the original canals that went all through the area and down the Midway.

The 1893 World’s Fair of Chicago, the Colombian Exposition, took place in our neighborhood. The only building left from it is the Museum of Science and Industry building, but in 1893 the fair stretched all the way from the lake to the Midway Plaisance. The fair saw the introduction of the Ferris Wheel (on the Midway, the one on Navy Pier is a replica), Cracker Jacks, Aunt Jemima syrup, Pabst beer (which won the blue ribbon at the fair), and Juicy Fruit. It also saw the indroduction of the hamburger in the United States. [Apu Neneh informs us that the hamburger was already known in America at least a decade before 1893.]

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Robie House offers tours all the time. It is one of the most famous buildings in Chicago, and it is in our backyard, on Woodlawn Ave, near the new GSB building and Rockefeller Chapel.