Notable Chicagoans Among Those Cited in 1925 Article By H.C. ChatfieldTaylor



H.C. Chatfield-Taylor, author of the article, was part and parcel of Chicago society in the late 19th and early 20th Century. He and his wife helped host the World's Columbian Exposition, held in the Windy City in 1893. The world's fair attracted more than 27 million visitors, including a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus and the Infanta Eulalia of Spain. The five-time Mayor of Chicago, Carter Harrison is part of the story (before he was assassinated a few months later.) So, too, is journalist Eugene Field and society lady, Mr. Potter Palmer, she for whom the landmark Palmer House was dedicated.

Written in 1925, When the World Came to Chicago was originally published in The Century Magazine. It was recently posted anew on www.hopelessutopian.com, a website aimed at those with eclectic tastes in reading.

H.C. Chatfield-Taylor, author of the article, was part and parcel of Chicago society in the late 19th and early 20th Century. He and his wife helped host the World's Columbian Exposition, held in the Windy City in 1893. The world's fair attracted more than 27 million visitors, including a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus and the Infanta Eulalia of Spain.

Wrote Chatfield-Taylor of the Spanish noble: "(She) came to Chicago as the nation's guest in that year 1893, and being of royal birth, she set the city's heart aflutter. By nature a joyous Parisienne rather than the proud and haughty Spaniard of romance or the gracious princess of fairy-tales, her playing of the part of royalty was at variance with the exalted notion of it held by a city remote from kings and their majesty, and believing with Euripides that 'it is necessary for a prince to please the many.'"

Chatfield-Taylor's article is best savored by those who crave more knowledge of Chicago at the turn of the century, and particularly its literary, theatre and arts scene. He writes, too, of Chicago's famed 'The Little Room' as well as the renowned Forty Club.

Names mostly forgotten, by all but a few, dot Chatfield-Taylor's reminiscence. Jane Addams and Harriet Monroe; William Morton Payne and Wallace Rice; Major Lyman B. Glover and Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, too.

Likewise, it is refreshing to read Chatfield-Taylor's first-hand account of John Philip Sousa leading his band in a processional of welcome for "the most imposing array of personages Chicago has ever beheld."

Dean Rotbart, founder of www.hopelessutopian.com, said he doesn't know when Chatfield-Taylor's article was last published or if its available elsewhere on the Internet. Rotbart said he found the article at a used bookstore in a bound 1925 volume of The Century Magazine and wanted to make sure it isn't lost to the dusty stacks of history.

"So much great journalism existed before the Internet," Rotbart noted. "Sometimes it is hard to remember that the world existed before .com."

In an era of increasing content segmentation, HopelessUtopian.com aims to provide visitors a cornucopia of piquant outre substance.

Inspired by the very popular "How to of the Day" that appears on Google.com HopelessUtopian.com regularly posts engaging articles that don't have a single good 'because' or 'therefore'. Readers just like them.





Notable Chicagoans Among Those Cited in 1925 Article By H.C. ChatfieldTaylor