There were other cycloramas on display during the 1893 Columbian Exposition besides the Volcano of Kilauea. Gene Meier, 19th century American panorama specialist, listed them as follows: Gettysburg, Jerusalem of the Day of Crucifixion, Chicago Fire, Bernese Oberland, Volcano of Kilauea, and Battle of Chattanooga.
The Chicago Fire cyclorama was a similar in size to the Volcano of Kilauea cyclorama, and measured approximately 50 feet high by 400 feet long. A reproduction of the 1871 great fire was displayed in a building on Michigan Avenue, between Madison and Monroe Streets. Howard H. Gross managed the attraction and was President of the Chicago Fire Cyclorama Company. Ticket prices were 30 cents per adult and 25 cents per child. The cyclorama was open in the day and evening.
Advertisements promised a “marvelous scene of Chicago while burning” with 20,000 square feet of canvas and numerous set pieces. The September 28, 1892, issue of the “Fort Worth Daily Gazette” reported, “thousands of acres of red hot ruins” and “thousands more a sea of flame.” Some of the painted compositions included Burning of the Court-House, Panic at the Rush Street Bridge, Escaping to the River, and Burning of the Old United States Marine Hospital. The attraction was created at an estimated expense of $250,000. Eyewitness accounts promoted this “most wonderful creation of art” with “thrilling scenes of burning Chicago” presented “truthfully and with a degree of realism impossible to conceive” (Chicago Tribune, October 20, 1893)
The details of the exhibit and depiction of the Great Fire, however, were under scrutiny from the day it opened to the public. An article on May 22, 1892 in the Chicago Tribune defended the careful researched process to maintain accuracy of the events that occurred in 1871 (page 39). In an article titled, “How People See the Same Thing Differently,” manager Gross stated, “I think the picture is as accurate as any that will ever be made. But what a time it took to get the facts and exact location in some instances, and other data necessary to make the work so accurate that those who saw the fire would agree with the reproduction!” Gross continued, “But with every human endeavor to attain this result, it is strange, interesting, and sometimes sad to overhear some of the old settlers who, viewing the work, begin to disagree about the details. And so it was in the gathering of facts for the painting.”
The example that Gross used during the exhaustive research prior to the design of the model was contacting the proprietor of a Lake Street business that caught fire. The proprietor explained that he knew the building caught on fire at 10am as he was just coming down to the business. Yet the bookkeeper arrived at 8am and explained that the fire had started two hours earlier. Disputing both reports was the man in charge of the building who reported that the structure caught on fire at 3am. Gross explained that this was the case with most eyewitness accounts that told drastically different versions of the same story. They had to select only one story to illustrate. During the design of the painting, over fifty individuals all swore that they witnessed the fire from its inception and described their experience to Gross and his stenographer. In the end, 1,300 eye witnesses accounts were collected during the design process. Gross summed up the inaccuracies stating, “The discrepancy or difference reminds me that the late Gen. Crook once said that a hundred Indians (or any number), would see an occurrence and each would describe it alike, but no two white men could do it.”
The Chicago Fire attraction was on display for the majority of 1892 and remained throughout the duration of the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The exhibit finally closed on October 10, 1893. An article posted in Chicagology noted that the after the attraction closed, the canvas was stored in a warehouse on South Indiana Avenue and eventually sold to a junk dealer for only $2.00 in 1913. According to Meier, Gross wanted to give the Chicago Fire Cyclcorama to the City of Chicago, provided Chicago Fire Cyclorama and the original Battle of Gettysburg (made in Brussels by Paul Philippoteaux) parked in his front yard at 600 Indiana Avenue until Gettysburg was sold for $1 in 1910 and CHICAGO FIRE was sold for $2 in 1913.
The only item that remains of the cyclorama is the original 1/10 scale design. The Chicagology article continued to report that this design was ,“recently discovered sitting, uncatalogued, in the Chicago History Museum archives. The painting, measured four feet high by forty feet long.” The October 19, 1892, “Inter Ocean” article verified the use of this design, reporting that the Chicago Fire Cyclorama was “made from photos and original sketches” (page 7).
Michael Kutzer and Gene Meier added information about the Chicago Fire cyclorama that was posted in Chicagology. I introduced Meier in yesterday’s post, but Kutzer also specializes in the same subject matter, specifically the F. W. Heine Diaries and panorama artists in Milwaukee. Meiers and Kutzer revealed that in November 1889 F. W. Heine was asked by a Mr.Van Valkenburgh if he would like to make the composition of the Chicago Fire for the rotunda building on Michigan between Madison and Monroe in Chicago that housed the “Battle of Shiloh” painting. The Chicago Fire cyclorama was painted by scenic artists Lorenz and Wilhelmi of Heine’s studio in Milwaukee.
To place Heine in context, an article titled “Fine Art in Milwaukee” credited F. W. Heine as “the celebrated battle painter from Leipzig” (The Nebraska State Journal, March 2, 1890). Heine was listed as one of the many European artists working for the American Panorama Company in Milwaukee. The article further reported “each one bore a high reputation in his own country.” There will be more about this Milwaukee panorama company in tomorrow’s post.
To be continued…
Here is the link to the Chicago Fire Panorama at Chicagology: https://chicagology.com/chicago-fire/fire031/
