[Diaorama of the Greely Expedition, at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, showing Lt. A.W. Greely, U.S. Army, welcoming Lt. Lockwood and Sgt. Brainard back to Ft. Conger]

The World's Columbian Exposition, was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The iconic centerpiece of the Fair, the large water pool, represented the long voyage Columbus took to the New World. The Exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on architecture, sanitation, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism.