"Becomingness"
- Six months have passed since Chicago got the bid. And yet, the forty-five men on the exposition's board of directors still cannot seem to decide where to build the fair.
- It's July 1890, and Opening day is scheduled for May 1, 1893. Time's a-ticking.
- Enter: Frederick Law Olmsted, the "wizard of Central Park" (1.4.3).
- One of the exposition board's directors, James Ellsworth persuades a very hesitant Olmsted to join the project.
- "Ellsworth insisted that what Chicago had in mind was something far grander than even the Paris exposition. He described for Olmsted a vision of a dream city designed by America's greatest architects and covering an expanse at least one-third larger than the Paris fair" (1.4.7).
- Ellsworth assures Olmsted that he'd be adding his name to one of the greatest artistic undertakings of the century, should he choose to help.
- Sold. Olmsted agrees to join the venture.
- Olmsted and his architect Henry Codman like Burnham instantly. Together they scour every square inch of Chicago to find the best place to put the fair.
- Burnham is appointed chief of construction. He names his partner Root the fair's supervising architect and Olmsted the supervising landscape artist.
- Burnham is all ready to begin building the fair.
- But there's still no place to put it.