Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition (Initial Situation)
We got the bid!
Chicago is selected to host the 1893 World's Fair, and famed architect Daniel Burnham is named director of works. There's lots to be done, including hiring architects and construction workers, planning exhibitions, and finding a place to even put the fair. Burnham also dreams of surpassing the 1889 Paris World's Fair that produced the colossal Eiffel Tower, so engineers need to get on top of making something pretty breath-taking.
And speaking of taking breaths…
At the same time all this is happening, a young, rich, and handsome doctor arrives in Chicago. He goes by H. H. Holmes even though that's not even close to his real name (Herman Webster Mudgett). Anyway, Holmes takes over a drugstore, buys a plot of land, and marries a bunch of women.
Seems harmless, right? Just you wait.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
Trouble Ahead
Burnham and his team of architects face many obstacles. For starters, the nation is in economic turmoil, people don't want to work on buildings that will only be used for six months, and the city still hasn't ever decided where to put the fair. Burnham also hasn't found an engineer with a plan to rival Eiffel's tower, so there's still that to deal with.
Meanwhile, Holmes transforms his newly acquired property into a three-story hotel, complete with an airtight vault. The purpose of the vault will soon become clear (hint: many years later, police find a woman's footprint etched onto inside of the vault the door). Uh-oh.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Black and White
Things start to look up for the fair. The city finally decides on a location and Burnham and his team get right to work constructing the White City. Trains carrying people and goods that will be displayed at the fair zoom into Chicago, and George Washington Gale Ferris steps forward with designs for a wheel that will carry two-thousand passengers at a time.
Yet outside in the "Black City," things look way grimmer.
Women who are lured to Holmes' hotel by the doctor's good looks and charming personality soon go missing. He goes on a killing binge, targeting young women and those whom he promises to marry. His "castle" is actually a death trap.
Falling Action
Beginning of the End
Six months come and go, and soon it's time for the fair to come to an end. Burnham is poised to secure his place as one of America's greatest architects. But plans are disrupted by the sudden assassination of Chicago's beloved mayor Carter Harrison. The Closing Day ceremony is cancelled and the fair's final day becomes a large funeral procession. The first planned fires demolish the fairgrounds and several structures.
Holmes is arrested for insurance fraud, and detective Frank Geyer sets out to find the three Pitezel children who have gone missing, last seen in Holmes' care. Geyer finds the children's bodies and Holmes is sentenced to death.
Resolution (Denouement)
A Fair Impact
Thanks to the fair, Burnham ascends his place as one of the nation's leading architects. Chicago transforms its national image as a city of stockyards to one of great culture and wealth. The fair also introduces cool inventions like Shredded Wheat cereal, Cracker Jacks, moving pictures, and zippers.
So though the fair was only in town for a brief period of time, the dream that the White City offers Americans is its greatest impact of all.