White City is Opened
Newspaper Men of the City and State View Amusement Park.
MILLION SPENT ON PLACE
Declared to Be the Most Elaborate Enterprise of Its Kind
in the Country.
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Source: Chicago Record-Herald, 27 May 1905, pg. 9.
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When one quarter of a milion incandescent lights flashed into brilliancy at 8 o'clock last night at Sixty-third street and South Park avenue they formed the initial illumination for the largest park in the United States devoted exclusively to amusement. White City, the new summer pleasure center, which announces itself as "dedicated to merriment and mirth," began its civic career as a municipality of fun at that time, when it threw open its gates to the newspaper men of Chicago and Illinois. To-day at 1 o'clock the city will open to the public, so to remain until the end of the season.
Fourteen acres of ground have been converted into this city of pleasure and $1,000,000 has been expended to supply it with the latest ideas in summer amusements. Expense has not been spared to make White City the most elaborate place of its kind in the country.
Dazzling with Light.
All the buildings are constructed of white cement and lighted with rows and festoons of electric lights, which trace the outlines of the structures, the result being dazzling. In the center of the grounds rises the electric tower, with 20,000 incandescent lights and a powerful searchlight.
The park is in the form of an oblong, one-fourth of a mile long and one-twelfth of a mile wide. Down the middle runs the sunken garden, with a stand for the Banda Rossa in the middle, and relieved with pots of flowers and ferns. On either side and at the ends rise the buildings, each one containing some distinct amusement feature. The attraction each house contains is blazoned across its front in incandescent lights, so it is easy to see from almost any part of the city where any particular one is situated.
Many Novel Attractions.
The main center of life at the city promises to be the ballroom and College Inn, which occupy adjoining structures, the largest on the grounds. The ballroom will accomodate 1,000 dancers, while College Inn, which is decorated with college flags and coats-of-arms, will seat 2,400 diners.
The main set attraction is likely to be the fire show, which gives a representation of a fire in a hotel so true to life that it is difficult to realize that it is but a mimic scene. In front of the grand stand has been built a city square. Business blocks and shops, as seen while in the street, real cars and carriages pass to and fro. Suddenly there is an alarm of fire, and flames are seen bursting from the windows of the five-story hotel. Real fire engines respond, and then takes place an apparently real battle with the flames, during which there are thrilling scenes.
Cummins' Indian congress promises to be another of the most popular features, 150 Inidans and cowboys giving a representation of Custer's last stand in true western fashion.
The enterprise is due entirely to Chicago capital and energy. Joseph Beifeld is president of the White City Company, with Edward C. Boyce as vice president, Aaron J. Jones as secretary, and Paul D. Howse as general manager. Members of the Illinois Press Association, the Chicago Press Club and the Milwaukee Press Club attended last night.
[End of news article]
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Page compiled: 14 April 2002
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