the gilded age

i am pretty obsessed with the gilded age in american history after reading "the devil in the white city" by erik larson (which i finished a couple weeks ago).  the book is about the world's columbian exposition, which took place in chicago in 1893; as well as the birth of america's first serial killer, h.h. holmes, who also did what he did in the same area of chicago, in the same time frame.  anyone who's ever lived in chicago should read this book.

i can't wait to visit chicago again and walk where the gigantic buildings of the fair once stood.  the only remaining building is what is now the museum of science and industry, overlooking the lagoon and wooded island (designed by frederick law olmsted - the same landscape architect who designed central park in nyc and the gardens at biltmore estate in asheville, nc).  it was the fine arts building during the fair, and the only building meant to be permanent, as no one would house priceless works of art from around the globe in a flammable, temporary structure.  one of the most amazing things to me is that the fine arts building was one of the SMALLEST buildings at the fair!  SMALLEST!  anyone who's been to MSI knows that it's ANYTHING but small!  the largest building, the manufacturer's and liberal arts building, could've probably fit at least SIX fine arts buildings within its walls.  and this was in 1893!  the task of constructing such a building blows my mind to smithereens!

never before (and never since) had the world seen such an amazing display of ingenuity and innovation.  it was here that so many products we take for granted were first revealed to the public:  the zipper, shredded wheat, juicy fruit gum, the ferris wheel.  not to mention, it had spring water drinking stations (with water piped in from wisconsin) and a fully functional fire department and security staff; and it was the first time our nation had seen belly dancers.

the whole event was akin to popping our nation's (and, indeed, the world's) imagination cherry.  once someone of otherwise humble stature saw something like that, how could they fully enjoy the hum-drum life they had previously led?  it was almost unfair to show so many people that much amazingness at once.  surely after spending any time in such a magnificent place, everything else seemed boring.

that time period also served to pop the nation's innocence cherry.  h.h. holmes was plain evil, building a giant murder castle on 63rd street.  (in fact, looking up the address just now, i found that it was built near where the current kennedy king community college is.  my dad taught there when i was little; it's possible i saw the very site where countless people were killed.)  holmes, too, was innovative.  his entire structure was designed to disorient, dissect, and dispose of bodies.  he was innovative in his swindling.  he never roused suspicion because he constantly fired his employees so no one worker ever saw the construction from start to finish.  there were rooms with no windows that he could fill with noxious gas after trapping people (usually young women, in chicago to seek employment and independence) within their walls; there were chutes leading to the basement; there was a kiln in that basement.  some of the bodies were articulated into clean skeletons for medical schools (back in the day, medical schools didn't bother to check the sources of such donations).  no one would have been able to do the horrific things holmes did nowadays, but in the late 1800s, the public had never seen or heard of such dastardly deeds.  the only known serial killer prior to holmes was jack the ripper, and he killed many fewer than h.h. holmes.  holmes was an evil, demented genius; and i try to imagine what our world would've been if he hadn't existed.  was it inevitable for humans to discover those evil extremes, or did holmes pave the way for others' sickness through emulation?

before this book, i hadn't really considered that period in history as particularly significant.  now, i think that period of time has been unmatched in how it changed our nation and the entire world (mostly for good but for bad as well).  i think about how much the world has changed in my measly 32 years, and i know it's nothing compared to the unbelievable advances from the late 1800s.