Chicago Detours Chicago Walking Tours

1893 World’s Fair Tour Overview
This very special walking tour digs into how and why the 1893 World’s Fair captures imaginations more than any other event in Chicago history. Unlike other World’s Fair tours and Devil in the White City tours, which likely revolve around facts and trivia, you’ll dig deeper on this tour.
On this fun and insightful walking tour, you’ll venture into beautiful architectural spaces from the era. You will play a few thoughtfully designed games, like visual scavenger hunts. Along with guide commentary, your guide will show you on shared iPads material from archives and photographs that illuminate this event, also known as the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
This downtown tour visits some of the few remaining and spectacular buildings from the time of the World’s Fair. The fairgrounds themselves were south of downtown, but you can best see the impact of the fair in the Loop. Here the architecture and landscape still show the World’s Fair imprint even today, nearly 125 years later. And beyond just looking at buildings from outside, our mostly indoor walking tour sees the beauty of architectural details within. Plus, you can opt to get drinks (on you), too!
You can think of this 2.5-hour-long walking tour as being 5% outdoors, 95% indoors, 20% clue-based games and visual scavenger hunts, 10% drinking time, and 100% awesome historical tour time. We know the math doesn’t add up – we hope you get the idea!
With just intermittent walks outside, the 1893 World’s Fair Tour makes for a great walking tour in all seasons. This tour makes the World’s Fair’s lasting impact come to life. We hope you’ll join us!
Walking Tour Highlights Colorful mosaics in a hotel built for the 1893 World’s Fair The sweeping grand lobby of the Auditorium Building Ride one of the downtown’s last human-operated elevators A secret building hidden in an alley See the Monadnock Building, a landmark early skyscraper The opulent Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, once an exclusive men’s club Stories and Ideas The rapid changes in culture around the turn of the century The 1893 Fair’s array of foods and even food sculpture Parlor songs of the past The beginnings of consumer culture and advertising Amusements on the Midway at the 1893 World’s Fair 1893 World’s Fair Tour Includes: Professional tour guide commentary Shared iPads with historic photos Light snack Game prizes and gifts Reservation Does Not Include: Drinks: At the tour meeting spot, we welcome you to get a drink at the bar before check-in. To streamline the tour, we take your order and cash for your second drink at check-in ($8 for beer, $10 for wine, includes gratuity). The tour concludes in a building with several drink options. Dietary restrictions: One small snack is included. It is vegetarian. We cannot accommodate other dietary restrictions. Tour guide gratuity.
Walking distance: 0.9 mile