- All's Well That Ends Well
- Antony and Cleopatra
- As You Like It
- The Comedy of Errors
- Coriolanus
- Cymbeline
- Hamlet
- Henry IV, Part 1
- Henry IV, Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Henry VIII
- Julius Caesar
- King John
- King Lear
- Love's Labor's Lost
- A Lover's Complaint
- Macbeth
- Measure for Measure
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Othello
- Pericles
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Richard II
- Richard III
- Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare's Sonnets
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Venus and Adonis
- The Winter's Tale
By 21st century standards, it's hard to grasp that there was ever a point when Chicago was actively competing for the glory and recognition of other American cities. But in the late 19th century, Chicago was on the rise: there were plenty of businessmen who'd made the city wealthy, but it was missing a certain element of class and sophistication.
As the quotation suggests, cultural prestige—even though it's impossible to measure—mattered deeply to the leaders of Chicago. The desire for this prestige explains why Chicago's elite invested so much of their time and energy in the Chicago World's Fair: the…
