Historical Firsts: Chicago World's Fair 1893 Quiz

Answer: Frederick and Louis Rueckheim

Cracker Jack is a snack food made of caramel coated popcorn and peanuts. It has a molasses taste and is traditionally sold in a small box with a treat inside.
Frederick Rueckheim, a former popcorn vendor named "Fritz", brought his brother Louis over from Germany and they created the recipe. Cracker Jacks were first introduced to America in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair. The sticky treat earned its name when a salesman at the fair tried it and yelled out "That is crackerjack!", an informal phrase meaning very good or exceptional.

Over the years the snack continued its popularity as miniature prizes, such as rings, stickers, and temporary tattoos, were added. It was even included in the baseball song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game".

Answer: George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.

An observation wheel, also called a ferris wheel, is an amusement park or fair ride that is made of a large vertical wheel that rotates. It has passenger seats or carousels attached that remain upright as the wheel spins.

This kind of ride was designed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., a structural engineer out of Pennsylvania, who brought his idea forward in response to a request for an iconic structure that would help symbolize the fair. His idea amazed the fair's architects and they asked that it rival the Eiffel Tower.

This unique ride rose up 264 feet and had 36 gondolas holding 60 people each--over 2,100 people per ride! Those fortunate enough to get on the Chicago Wheel, later Ferris Wheel, paid 50 cents for an amazing 15 minute ride, complete with electric lights, over the Word's Fair.

Answer: Whitcomb Judson

A zipper is a device, comprised of two coils and a slider, that is used to join the edges of fabric together. Zippers can be found on things like pants, dresses, jackets, luggage, tents, cushions, etc.

Whitcomb Judson, an inventor and traveling salesman out of Minnesota, invented what he called a "slide fastener". He designed this primarily to aid in putting on shoes because boots and shoes at that time involved many buttons. After several revisions, his patent for the product was approved by 1893.

Judson debuted this fastener at the Chicago World's Fair. Even though the reception there was lukewam, he decided to start a company to make the fastener. It was not called the zipper until 1923, when B.F. Goodrich used it on their rubber boots.

Answer: Henry Perky

Shredded wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat strands that are formed into pillow shapes. It's a good source of fiber and is low in fat and sugars.

Henry Perky, an inventor and lawyer out of Nebraska, was in a hotel in the early 1890s when he met a man who told him that his stomach ailments would feel better if he ate boiled wheat and cream. Perky invented a machine that would take moistened wheat and make strands that would then be crimped into individual "biscuits" of cereal.

Perky went to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and showcased the machine and the cereal. His goal was to sell the machinery he displayed. However, the real success at the fair was the actual food product! After the fair, he went on to sell the biscuits on the streets. This then parlayed into a bakery and finally into the Shredded Wheat Company, which was later sold to Nabisco.

Answer: Charles Goldsmith

A stamped postal card is also called a government issued postal card. It has the postage printed directly on it and does not require the user to procure stamps to affix upon it.

The first time this was offered in the United States was at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Fair officials asked for designs and were immediately impressed with Charles Goldsmith's multi color samples. Goldsmith, an entrepreneur out of New York City, created scenes featuring the Agricultural Building, the Fisheries Building, the Woman's Building, and the Naval Exhibit.

Goldsmith set up his cards, with one cent postage on them, in kiosks throughout the fair grounds. The kiosk would deliver two cards for five cents. They were tremendously popular for the duration of the fair and it is recorded that over 1.8 million cards were sold. This also started the Pioneer Era of picture postcards in America.

Answer: Nancy Green

Aunt Jemima pancake mix was invented in 1889 by Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood in Missouri. They created this first ever ready-mix for pancakes by combining various flours, lime phosphate, and salt. They named it Aunt Jemima after they heard a song in a minstrel show.

In 1893, they decided to introduce this mix to a broad audience at the Chicago World's Fair. This was also when Nancy Green was selected to be a living trademark of Aunt Jemima. This marked the first time a corporate brand used a living person to represent their product, and Nancy Green, a former slave, was the first African American model to do so.

At the fair, Green stood in front of the world's largest flour barrel (12 feet high by 24 feet wide), and demonstrated the mix by making thousands of pancakes. She also sang songs and told stories and quickly became the beloved Aunt Jemima who graced the box covers.

Answer: Nikola Tesla

Fluorescent lighting uses electrodes that are connected to a circuit. The circuit utilizes an AC (alternating current) supply. This AC supply is when the flow of electric charge periodically reverses direction. This is in contrast to a DC supply that has a one-directional flow of charge.

Getting electricity, a fairly new phenomenon, to the Chicago World's Fair created a showdown between two titans of the time: Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. General Electric (with Edison and his DC mechanisms) bid over $500,000 to showcase their products. However, Westinghouse (with Tesla and his AC mechanisms) won the contract for $399,000. Edison, furious, would not sell Tesla any light bulbs so Tesla and Westinghouse created their own.

Tesla's AC system was literally put on the spot as President Grover Cleveland pushed a button at the start of the fair on May 1, 1893, and 100,000 incandescent lamps lit up the grounds. Twelve 1,000 horsepower generators ran the fair and proved to America that electricity was here to stay.

Answer: Frederick Pabst

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer is a lager originally brewed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was created in the 1840's and was called Pabst's Best Select, or PBS. It is made with malted barley, grains, hops, and a proprietary yeast. In the early 1880s and 1890s the beer had won so many awards that the Pabst company was putting silk blue ribbons around the bottles of the PBS.

In 1893, Frederick Pabst showcased his company's product at the Chicago World's Fair. In a thrilling award for him, the lager was named "America's Best Beer". No actual ribbons were given at the fair to any product, however, in a marketing feat, Frederick Pabst declared that since they won that moniker they really were a blue ribbon beer.

In light of the huge success of the beer during the fair, and the use of blue ribbons on their bottles for decades, Frederick Pabst changed the product to be Pabst Blue Ribbon (or PBR). The name stuck and the product is still made as of 2025, although not under the Pabst Company.

Answer: Josephine Cochrane

A mechanical dishwasher is a machine that washes dishes automatically using hot water, detergent and mechanical rotating spray arms. Modern dishwashers also have drying capabilities. Prior to this product, dishes were washed by hand, an act that caused restaurants and hotels to spend money on labor and broken dishes.

In 1870, Josephine Cochrane was a housewife in Chicago who was interested in inventing something to aid in the chore of washing dishes. Over many years, she finalized a design that utilized water pressure instead of scrubbers and had racks to safely hold the cups and plates. In 1886, after the death of her husband, she started her own company and attempted to sell the machines to individual homeowners. In 1893, she showcased the machine at the Chicago World's Fair and it was quickly heralded by restaurant and business owners.

Cochrane won a coveted fair award for "best mechanical construction, durability, and adaptation to a line of work". The fair and her award skyrocketed her company's sales. By the time of her death in 1913 dishwashers were sold across the country and soon KitchenAid acquired the line. By the 1950s the dishwasher was in most households, fulfilling Cochrane's original dream.

Answer: William Wrigley, Jr.

Juicy Fruit is a chewing gum with a sweet flavor composed of hints of lemon, orange, pineapple, and banana. It is a synthetic gum base with sugar and fruity notes.

William Wrigley, Jr. was a Quaker from Pennsylvania. He decided in 1891 to move to Chicago and start his own business making soap. With only $32 he started selling soap and giving away free baking powder as an incentive. The baking powder caught on so he switched to selling that and giving away chewing gum he made as a freebie. Soon, the gum had caught on more than the baking powder; especially a spearmint flavor he had perfected.

In 1893, Wrigley created a new fruit flavor gum he called Juicy Fruit and debuted it at the Chicago World's Fair. It soon out-sold all of his other products he was pitching, and he knew he was onto something magical. By the fair's end, he was known for his gum products. This was the start of the Wrigley company and a huge fortune. Who would have guessed that the Juicy Fruit gum from the fair would eventually catapult into a franchise that now includes Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs?