The most recent “fascinating old photo” I posted here (see the previous entry) has generated some impressive sleuthing efforts among our members. Several people sent me the results of their Internet searches, but one clue turned out to be the most likely of all.

In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World. The event was also known as the Chicago World’s Fair.

I did some sleuthing myself and found this …

To assist fairgoers, Rand, McNally & Co. published A Week at the Fair, Illustrating the Exhibits and Wonders of the World’s Columbian Exposition, with Special Descriptive Articles … Also Maps, Plans, and Illustrations.

Chapter 2 includes this section on Driving to the Fair:

“The Michigan Avenue boulevard forms a most attractive route to the Fair, and the finest street in the world (as Max O’Rell styled it) is well worth traversing for those who have the time and can afford the carriage-hire. At numerous livery stables, well-appointed carriages can be secured at reasonable rates, and a line of handsome four-horse coaches runs regularly between the city and the Exposition grounds. The boulevard is bordered by the houses of Chicago’s wealthiest citizens, and the route is fully described in the various guides to the city issued by the publishers of this guide. The luxurious route to the Fair is that selected by the Columbia Coach Company, embracing the choicest section of the Chicago boulevard system. Leaving the hotels, the route leads down Michigan Avenue to Oakwood Boulevard, thence by way of Grand and Drexel boulevards to Washington and Jackson parks. The well-sprinkled and dustless roads traversed are devoted entirely to pleasure-driving, and present an ever-changing scene of life, which might be characterized as the holiday side of Chicago. For miles on either side stand the palatial residences of Chicago’s wealthiest citizens, while the magnificent grounds encircling these ideal homes afford a refreshing glimpse of the pleasures of urban life. The coaches designed for this line [our “mystery vehicle” from yesterday; see the engraving below, which was published with this text] combine all the advantages of the modern landau with those of the old-time “Tally Ho,” in supplying each passenger with an outside seat and an unobstructed view. The drivers are old-time whips, who have been historic actors in the principal events of which the history of the West is made up. The overland route to the Pacific has been their stamping ground, and those who have guided their six-in-hands through the tortuous ravines and defiles of the Rockies will have but a vacation in making the trip up and down the boulevards of Chicago. Here are drivers who, to carry out the boasts of these men, scheduled ten miles an hour between the Missouri River and San Francisco, and who can drive a four- or six-horse coach through places where the Eastern driver could not lead the animals by their halters. As nearly as may be in this sybaritic age, the passenger will realize what a trip across “the plains” used to be in the palmy days when old Ben Holliday, of Platte County, Mo., was the autocrat of all first-class travel between ocean and ocean; a journey which may now be made in a gorgeous Pullman car equipped with every luxury. The well-matched coach horses will make the spin in any case in easy time, as relays will lighten the journey. The delights of the journey will far excel any possible written description. The fare has been fixed at an amount which will insure an exclusive and select patronage. Crowding will not be permitted, and the journey either way will be one of comfort — restful at night, exhilarating in the morning.” (A Week at the Fair, 1893)