Ellen Swallow Richards and the Rumford Kitchen at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair

The following is an account from The World’s Columbian Exposition: The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 by Norman Bolotin and Christine Laing (pages 42–43)

"The year was 1885 and talk was beginning in the US about having a grand exposition. The issue gained more momentum after the wildly successful Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. Fierce rivalry developed among several US cities, but the most intense was between New York and Chicago. Most Easterners believed that Chicago was a primitive backwater. In actuality, Chicago was already the “second city” in terms of industrial and commercial wealth and power, having long surpassed rivals St. Louis and Cincinnati. Jane Addams had founded Hull house, the Chicago Symphony and the Chicago Library were founded as well as the University of Chicago. A handful of inventive architects had overtaken and surpassed New York’s lead in the development of tall commercial buildings and prototype skyscrapers. Louis Sullivan and his protégée, Frank Lloyd Wright, were two of the eccentric geniuses in this effort.

In February of 1890, the House of Representatives awarded the Exposition to Chicago and the wait was over. The political and business side of the planning and execution of the Fair is an interesting story in itself, told in a spellbinding book entitled The Devil and the White City. Of interest to our history is the women’s involvement in the Fair. Originally, women’s issues were governed by a Board of Lady Managers, headed by Bertha Honore’ Palmer, wife of Potter Palmer, merchant and hotelkeeper (Palmer House) extraordinary who developed State Street. Other strong-minded and progressive women in Chicago were Jane Addams, Harriet Monroe, Frances Willard of the Temperance movement, and Susan B. Anthony (who played a subdued role so as not to scare the sedate.) The Women’s Building was the only building of the entire exposition to be awarded after an architectural competition. The winner was Sophie Hayden, a young graduate of MIT. She was given $1,000 for designing a delicate and graceful Italian Renaissance villa. The most significant thing about the Woman’s Building was the simple fact that it existed at all. A building devoted to the importance of women was a breakthrough a century ago, and to think that the building was designed, decorated, and most important, managed by women. Little did the officials know that these women would create the framework for a force that would advance women’s rights and recognition far into the next century. The fair helped advance the cause for women in fields previously taboo. But more than anything else, the fair helped position women as a force to be reckoned with in all arenas as the world crossed into the twentieth century. Women’s accomplishments in science, health care, philanthropy, literature, invention, architecture, education, and exploration crammed every inch of the pavilion. From daybreak to dusk women leaders of the decade took to the stage to present their research and views on everything from financial planning and preventive medicine to educational needs and nonsexist child-rearing. There was even a model kitchen equipped with the novelties of ceramic tile flooring and a gas cooking range which provided the setting for dieticians to demonstrate nutritious meals.’’

Nowhere in this arena was Ellen Swallow Richards to be found. To the casual observer, this appeared to be a perfect platform for her to present her views on human nutrition, on the plight of workers in the big cities, on the conditions of our water systems and sewage disposal. Where in the world was Ellen? Let’s look in on her life at this time.

The following is a letter to her friend, Mary Hinman Abel:

“The plot thickens. Mrs. Potter Palmer has asked us to take charge of the “Scientific Cooking” at the World’s Fair. Now I wonder what she means by scientific cooking and whether she classes it under education, sanitation or economics — the New England Kitchen always means you and me, so what shall we do? Do you see a field big enough to make it worthwhile? Are the Lady Managers doing things well? You know I declined to have anything to do with them on that first plan. I supposed the place was only nominal and I want my name to mean something. If we should put a kitchen at Chicago, what form should it take? You have seen things abroad. You will have to plan to be in Chicago from April to November or a part of these months if the thing is to be decently done. What will you do it for, as I must have the money guaranteed before I begin. There will be no trouble getting the money.”

In another letter to her friend Mary Hinman Abel, dated May 26, 1893, regarding the World’s Fair Kitchen:

“This is what influences me. This summer is our opportunity to lead. The work is being taken up so fast that we shall be old fogies another year or so. We deserve our rights as pioneers. Hereafter, we can advise and let others do the work. We shall be just as well off here as in another building and we are our own masters. I am not worrying or fretting, only getting things in shape. The new Secretary of Agriculture has just written to me in regards to establishing food laboratories in connection with the Agricultural Experiment Stations of the US. The whole subject is ready for a boom. We must be in it.”

Ellen and Mary Hinman Abel were successful in positioning a small white building they called the Rumford Kitchen (after Count Benjamin Rumford) on the fairgrounds. The kitchen was a unique aspect of the fair as it not only served nutritious food, it was a laboratory to show consumers about the content of the food they were eating and how it was prepared. This tiny kitchen eventually served 10,000 meals over a two-month period. Ellen had achieved her purpose to educate the public about nutritious eating.

Today, Rumford Baking Powder, named after the same Count Rumford, is manufactured and distributed by Clabber Girl in Terre Haute, Indiana. The original Rumford Chemical Works was in West Providence, Rhode Island, and was purchased by Clabber Girl in 1950.

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Credits

  • Material has been quoted from The World’s Columbian Exposition: The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 by Norman Bolotin and Christine Laing. pp 42, 43.
  • Ellen Richard’s letters to Mary Hinman Abel were retrieved from the AAFCS Archives: Kroch Library Division of Rare Manuscripts at Cornell University.