Fire at the Fair!! January 8, 1894

The threat of fire at the Columbian Exposition had been a constant worry in Chicago. Construction issues were blamed and the Cold Storage Building had burned in July of 1893. In early 1894, after the Fair had closed, fire struck again and with many of the city's homeless taking refuge on the Fair grounds, victims of the economic depression that plagued the country at the end of 1893, it was hinted that arson may have been the cause.

From: The Chicago World's Fair of 1893: A Photographic Record

On the evening of January 8, 1894, a blaze broke out in the Casino at the southeast corner of the Court of Honor, spread along the Peristyle and gutted the Music Hall at the other end of that colonnade. Flames leaped over the Manufactures Building and damaged portions of the roof over the French and Belgian displays. Many valuable exhibits that had not been removed were damaged, including the famous bronze vase by Gustave Dore.