Final Preparations
- In April 1893, the weather finally clears up, but other problems loom.
- The Ferris Wheel is nowhere near complete and painters work hastily to finish coating the city in white. These guys become known as the "Whitewash Gang" (2.15.1).
- Despite the work that remains in the final months, Burnham is optimistic.
- He negotiates union contracts to prevent labor strikes, a breakthrough for organized labor at the time.
- Olmsted, by contrast, is worried. There is far too much work to complete before the May 1st Opening Day. And the rains that plague the grounds three days before the grand opening make him uneasy.
- The night before the big celebration, a British reporter named F. Herbert Stead visits the fairgrounds. There he finds "gross incompleteness" (2.15.47), litter and debris clotting the grounds.
- That same night, editors of newspapers prepare headlines. This will be the most covered event in the city since the Chicago Fire of 1871.