<P> Jackson Park was returned to its status as a public park, in much better shape than its original swampy form . The lagoon was reshaped to give it a more natural appearance, except for the straight - line northern end where it still laps up against the steps on the south side of the Palace of Fine Arts / Museum of Science & Industry building . The Midway Plaisance, a park - like boulevard which extends west from Jackson Park, once formed the southern boundary of the University of Chicago, which was being built as the fair was closing (the university has since developed south of the Midway). The university's football team, the Maroons, were the original "Monsters of the Midway". The exposition is mentioned in the university's alma mater: "The City White hath fled the earth, / But where the azure waters lie, / A nobler city hath its birth, / The City Gray that ne'er shall die ." </P> <P> The effort to power the Fair with electricity, which became a demonstration piece for Westinghouse Electric and the alternating current system they had been developing for many years, took place at the end of what has been called the War of the currents between DC and AC . Westinghouse initially did not put in a bid to power the Fair but agreed to be the contractor for a local Chicago company that put in a low bid of US $510,000 to supply an alternating current based system . Edison General Electric, which at the time was merging with the Thomson - Houston Electric Company to form General Electric, put in a US $1,720,000 bid to power the Fair and its planned 93,000 incandescent lamps with direct current . After the Fair committee went over both proposals, Edison General Electric re-bid their costs at $554,000 but Westinghouse under bid them by 70 cents per lamp to get the contract . Westinghouse could not use the Edison incandescent lamp since the patent belonged to General Electric and they had successfully sued to stop use of all patent infringing designs . Since Edison specified a sealed globe of glass in his design Westinghouse found a way to sidestep the Edison patent by quickly developing a lamp with a ground glass stopper in one end, based on a Sawyer - Man "stopper" lamp patent they already had . The lamps worked well but were short lived, requiring a small army of workmen to constantly replace them . Westinghouse Electric had severely underbid the contract and struggled to supply all the equipment specified including twelve 1,000 horsepower single phase AC generators and all the lighting and other equipment required . They also had to fend off a last minute lawsuit by General Electric claiming the Westinghouse Sawyer - Man based stopper lamp infringed on the Edison incandescent lamp patent . </P> <P> The International Exposition held an Electricity Building which was devoted to electrical exhibits . A statue of Benjamin Franklin was displayed at the entrance . The exposition featured interior and exterior light and displays as well as displays of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope, search lights, a seismograph, electric incubators for chicken eggs, and Morse code telegraph . </P> <P> All the exhibits were from commercial enterprises . Participants included General Electric, Brush, Western Electric, and Westinghouse . The Westinghouse Company displayed several polyphase systems . The exhibits included a switchboard, polyphase generators, step - up transformers, transmission line, step - down transformers, commercial size induction motors and synchronous motors, and rotary direct current converters (including an operational railway motor). The working scaled system allowed the public a view of a system of polyphase power which could be transmitted over long distances, and be utilized, including the supply of direct current . Meters and other auxiliary devices were also present . </P>

What did the white city constructed for the 1893 world's columbian exposition in chicago represent