The Flagler Museum has unveiled its new exhibition, “America Takes the Stage: From the White City to Whitehall,” on view now through May 30. The exhibition explores the connection between Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and Henry Flagler’s vision for Palm Beach, revealing how one of America’s most celebrated architectural spectacles inspired the creation of Whitehall and shape the cultural identity of South Florida.
Guest-curated by Mosette Broderick, author, historian, and professor of architecture at New York University, the exhibition includes loans from the Art Institute of Chicago, which holds architect Daniel Burnham’s papers, and The Wolfsonian, whose collection includes significant World’s Fair memorabilia.
In the summer of 1893, Chicago unveiled the World’s Columbian Exposition, a dazzling “White City” of grand neoclassical buildings, innovative technology, and meticulously designed landscapes. Designed by Burnham and landscape visionary Frederick Law Olmsted, the fair welcomed more than 27 million visitors and introduced a new vision of American ambition, progress, and possibility.
The fair inspired industrialist Henry Flagler, whose railroad empire and grand hotels were transforming Florida’s east coast. In 1902, Flagler completed Whitehall, his magnificent Palm Beach residence, drawing upon the classical architectural language and grandeur from the Chicago Exposition.
To complement the exhibition, the Flagler Museum will present lectures featuring nationally and internationally recognized historians, architectural scholars, and design experts, along with engaging family programming, kicking off this weekend.
A Day at the World’s Fair
Families are invited to step back in time and experience the imagination and innovation of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition through a special children’s tour and hands-on activities inspired by the exhibition on November 15, hosted from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Young visitors will explore creative activity stations that invite them to design their own inventions, create colorful hot-air balloons, work with clay, explore fair-inspired foods, and more.
“From Chicago to Palm Beach: The Legacy of the 1893 World’s Fair” Lecture with Geoffrey Baer
On November 18, PBS television host and Chicago historian Geoffrey Baer takes audiences on a virtual tour of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the “White City.” Baer will trace how the fair inspired the City Beautiful movement and transformed the way cities were imagined and designed, with a legacy that can still be seen at Whitehall and throughout Palm Beach. Along the way, he will explore some of the Fair’s more unexpected contributions to American life, from the Ferris Wheel to familiar products introduced there, revealing how an ephemeral exposition left an extraordinary and lasting imprint on the modern world.
The evening will kick off with cocktails at 5:30 p.m., followed by the lecture at 6 p.m.
For the full schedule of events and more information, visit flaglermuseum.org.
