Midway Plaisance Chicago

Chicago’s Midway Plaisance is a one-block wide, mile-long strip of land to the west of Jackson Park, which in 1893 was the home of the World Columbian Exposition. Midway Plaisance was the location of the exposition’s Bazaar of Nations. This cosmopolitan collection of exhibits included replicas of an Irish market town, a German village, a Hawaiian volcano, a Chinese tea house, the Swiss Alps, and the streets of Cairo. The latter provided a venue for a belly dancer called Little Egypt whose performances were considered shocking. This was also the site of the world’s first Ferris wheel. Its cars were the size of streetcars, and it took riders up 250 feet for a dizzying view of the exposition grounds. Midway Plaisance has made its mark on English vocabulary. To this day fairs and carnivals have a “midway”; a strip with rides, games and concessions.