World's columbian Exposition

What does cracker jacks, juicy fruit, serial killers and hamburgers have in common with picture post cards? Well, you Americans all know that the common thread is the World Columbian exposition. It is funny because we Europeans often brag about how much we know in comparison with Americans. And still, I'd never heard about the fair until I started reading a book on the subject yesterday. The fair was open during six months and during that period over 27 million people attended. And this wasn't yesterday. It was in 1893. This was when USA's population was a little bit more that 50 millions. Simply amazing. It was built in less than two years and was 2,4 sq km. The Vatican is 0,44 sq km...

So, the commonalities. Well, the fair hosted the first cracker jacks, the first juicy fruits, the first hamburgers and the first known serial killer of USA. I never knew that. But should I? Well, the mind behind the project was David Burnham, an in USA famous architect and urban planner with Swedish decent. Being educated as an urban planner, how can I know know that the architect of the first known sky scraper was of Swedish decent? Well, now this hole in my sorrowful education has been filled. And I will now spend some time scanning Google for more pictures from this strange event in Chicago's proud history.