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Summary: Chapter 16: The Angel from Dwight

Holmes sends his assistant, Benjamin Pitezel, to participate in an alcoholism program in Dwight, Illinois. Pitezel receives Dr. Leslie Keeley’s “gold cure” liquid and reports the recipe to Holmes. Holmes copies the recipe and establishes his own spa, the Silver Ash Institute. Pitezel also tells Holmes about a beautiful woman he met in Dwight named Emeline Cigrand.

Holmes hires Emeline as his secretary and begins courting her. One day, Ned visits and warns Emeline to stay away from Holmes, but she ignores him. Emeline’s cousins, Dr. and Mrs. Cigrand, visit. Something about Holmes’ hotel does not seem right to Dr. Cigrand. He finds the poorly designed construction “gloomy and imposing,” but he doesn’t want to interfere with Emeline’s love for Holmes. 

Summary: Chapter 17: Dedication Day

Dedication Day changes from October 12th to October 21st, 1892, and Opening Day is set for May 1, 1893. Olmsted is frustrated by the construction’s slow progress, which often tramples his own work. He continues to fight for electric boats. He believes the Wooded Island, located in the lake, should be kept clear of any structures. However, Burnham persuades Olmsted to let the Japanese build an outdoor temple exhibit.

By the end of March, Olmsted, nearing physical and emotional collapse, lapses into a depression. He leaves Harry Codman in charge and convalesces in Europe with his family. He visits the site of the Paris Exposition to reflect on his own designs, and comes away convinced that Chicago’s landscape should be simple and reserved without many flowerbeds. However, he wonders whether Chicago’s Fair is too grand and ornamented. Despite receiving care in a doctor’s home in London and having nothing physically wrong, Olmsted does not improve. His daily carriage rides through the charming English countryside inspire him to include “vines and creepers” in his landscapes.

Sol Bloom learns that the Algerians, whose village he wanted for the Fair, accidentally set sail for America one year too soon. Workers house the Algerians in temporary buildings at the Midway.

Burnham turns down an “outlandish” Eiffel-challenger idea from a Pittsburgh engineer after he calls for designs.

The architects unanimously decide to paint the buildings a solid white. Originally this job belonged to William Pretyman, a friend of Root’s, but he quits angrily when the architects make this decision without him. Burnham hires the New York painter Francis Millet to replace him. Millet develops a way to apply paint through a hose and nozzle, essentially the first spray paint.

Chicago’s drinking water is filthy. Burnham advertises piped spring water from the village of Waukesha. When a mineral springs company tries to lay pipe through the town, a mob of angry villagers resist. Burnham buys a spring in a town outside Waukesha, and nobody is the wiser.

On June 13th, a storm hits the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, collapsing 100,000 feet of lumber. Burnham pushes the builders to work harder and faster. Workers die. The congressional investigators see that discord between the Exposition Company and National Commission slows everything, and the executive committee names Burnham the director, finally giving him full control.

The Pittsburgh engineer brings detailed specifications to Burnham for his idea. The Ways and Means Committee grants a concession, but revokes it in the morning. The “monstrosity” has no precedent and seems too fragile. So, the engineer spends even more money on specifications.

Olmsted returns to Chicago to relieve a sick Codman. He finds his surface landscape damaged by construction, but the less apparent foundations are improving. To his relief, Burnham has opted for electric boats.

Francis J. Bellamy writes The Pledge of Allegiance for all schoolchildren to recite on Dedication Day.

The Dedication Ceremony occurs in the unfinished Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. A 5,000-member choir sings the Hallelujah Chorus. The building is so large that they cannot hear the speaker and need a visual cue. Harriet Monroe reads her own poem, “Columbian Ode.”

Summary: Chapter 18: Prendergast

On November 28, 1892, Prendergast writes a nonsensical, rambling postcard to Alfred S. Trude, a criminal defense attorney in Chicago. Trude disregards the letter as crazy, but keeps it.

Summary: Chapter 19: “I Want You at Once”

The Pittsburgh engineer gathers a list of investors, a board, and proof of finance for his Eiffel-challenger. The Ways and Means Committee finally approves his structure in December. He asks Luther V. Rice, an engineer at the Union Depot & Tunnel Company, to supervise the construction.

He reveals that he will build a vertically revolving wheel, but neglects to mention it will carry 36 cars of people. The Pittsburgh engineer’s name is George Washington Gale Ferris.

Summary: Chapter 20: Chappell Redux

In December of 1892, Emeline Cigrand visits her friends, the Lawrences, in Holmes’ building. She says she will spend Christmas with her family in Indiana and may not return. Mrs. Lawrence notices that Emeline appears less enamored with Holmes. Then, Emeline’s visits stop without a real goodbye. Holmes claims Emeline married a man named Robert E. Phelps and produces a wedding announcement. Mrs. Lawrence finds this suspiciously out of character. She also remembers seeing Holmes and two neighbors carrying a trunk downstairs. She believes that Holmes has killed Emeline, but she does not tell the police.

Unbeknownst to the Cigrands and Lawrences, “Phelps” is an alias for Benjamin Pitezel. Holmes hires Charles Chappell to clean and assemble the skeleton of a woman sent to him in a trunk. A woman’s bare footprint appears engraved on the inside of the soundproof vault.

Summary: Chapter 21: “The Cold-Blooded Fact”

In January of 1893, ice covers Chicago and disrupts everything. Codman recovers from appendicitis surgery. Ferris begins constructing his wheel despite the frustrating frozen ground with quicksand underneath.

Harry Codman dies. Olmsted is heartbroken, and now must directly supervise the fairgrounds. He asks architect Charles Eliot for help. Eliot sees Olmsted is ill and places him with a doctor. In March, after hiring Eliot as a partner, Olmsted’s health and other work force him to leave Chicago. He reluctantly leaves Rudolf Ulrich in charge. He instructs Ulrich to make sure the Fair captures broad green scenery to counteract the white of the buildings.

Excessive snow collapses the glass roof on the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. Of the whole Fair, only the Women’s Building nears completion.

Analysis: Chapters 16-21

These chapters introduce and expand on a handful of important characters. The first we encounter is Emeline Cigrand. She is described as bright and enthusiastic, and falls thoroughly in love with Holmes. Holmes is attracted to her because he recognizes that he can seduce her. We also meet Emeline’s second cousin, Dr. Cigrand, as well as her friends, the Lawrences, who live in Holmes’ building. They are significant because they grow suspicious of Holmes. Despite their intuition, Dr. Cigrand and the Lawrences never express their suspicions. This failure to act is a theme throughout these chapters. Another person who fails to act is Alfred Trude, who receives a nonsensical postcard from Patrick Prendergast, and something about it sparks Trude’s interest. Out of all the letters he receives as a criminal defense attorney, he recognizes it is just a little too crazy, and keeps it, marveling at how Chicago seems to be producing more and more mentally disturbed men.

In chapter seventeen, Larson expands on the mysterious “Pittsburgh engineer” that he briefly introduced in chapter fifteen. This engineer exemplifies the theme of persistence that we see throughout the book. He pitches his idea three times. Even after having it called a “monstrosity,” he doesn’t quit. He takes a huge risk in spending even more money and effort after being told no. Larson’s writing technique is intentional here. He does not reveal the engineer’s name until he succeeds, reflecting the building tension the engineer himself experiences. Another instance in which Larson’s writing style reflects the storyline is how he writes about Prendergast. Besides his initial introduction, Larson writes about him in short bursts. This keeps Prendergast popping into our minds, foreshadowing that something important will happen with his character. Other significant characters we meet in these chapters are Francis Millet (whom we know from the prologue), Charles Eliot (Codman’s replacement), and Rudolf Ulrich, who Olmsted reluctantly leaves in charge of day to day operations in his second absence.

William Pretyman is a fleeting character, but we gain significant insight from him. He had been picked to oversee the color of the buildings mostly because he was Root’s friend, and Burnham was trying to honor Root. But Pretyman is often cranky and difficult to work with. In contrast, one of the reasons that Burnham is a great leader is that he is a good man to work with, and that earns him respect. Harriet Monroe (the poet and Root’s sister-in-law) sums up why Burnham is such a unique leader: “His genius was betrayed by lofty and indomitable traits of character which could not yield or compromise. And so his life was a tragedy of inconsequence.” Basically, if a person cannot learn to respect and work with others, their talent may not make any difference in the world.

Bad weather symbolizes current and impending hardship. The storm on June 13th that severely damages the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building is almost ironic, as that building was intended to be the largest and grandest. The weather further delays all of Olmsted’s work. January’s harsh ice presents yet another obstacle to George Ferris. True to his persistency, he blows through the ice and quicksand underneath. When the weather again assaults the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building and the weight of snow causes the glass roof to break, it ensures that the building cannot be ready by Dedication Day. However, at the ceremony, the people of Chicago forgive the building’s incompleteness, as they are so distracted by and impressed with the building’s massiveness. This is a testament to the architects’ grand vision.

Health is another big concept to emerge in these chapters. The characters recognize they must address their mental and physical health for the sake of their success. Olmsted knows he is on the verge of collapsing in chapter seventeen. Even though it seems like the worst time to leave, he insists on “convalescing” in Europe. Even though he doesn’t truly recover, the time away from the Fair benefits him greatly. He visits the fairground from Paris’s World’s Fair in France, and this helps him cement his artistic ideas for Chicago’s Fair. Olmsted creates something meaningful and beautiful despite his severe depression.


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