Louisiana Purchase Exposition
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The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as The Saint Louis World's Fair, was a World's Fair held in the U.S. city of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904. The Fair celebrated the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase (delayed one year). It opened April 30, 1904, and closed December 1 the same year.
The Fair's 1,200-acre (4.9 km²) site, designed by George Kessler [1], was located at the present-day grounds of Forest Park, and was the largest fair to date. There were over 1,500 buildings, connected by some 75 miles (120 km) of roads and walkways. It was said to be impossible to give even a hurried glance at everything in less than a week. The Palace of Agriculture alone covered some 20 acres (324,000 m²).
Exhibits were staged by 62 foreign nations, the United States government, and 43 of the 45 U.S. states. These featured industries, cities, private organizations and corporations, theater troupes, and music schools. There were also carnival-type amusements found on "The Pike."
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[edit] Architect
Kessler, who designed many urban parks in Texas and the Midwest, created the master design for the Fair.
A popular myth says that Frederick Law Olmsted, who died the year before the fair, designed the park and fair grounds. There are several reasons for this confusion. First, Kessler in his twenties had worked briefly for Olmsted as a Central Park gardener. Second, Olmsted was involved with Forest Park in Queens, New York. Third, Olmsted had planned the renovations to the Missouri Botanical Garden a few blocks to the southeast of the park in 1897.[1] Finally, Olmsted's sons advised Washington University on integrating the campus with the park across the street.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Buildings
As with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, all but one of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition's grand, neo-Classical exhibition palaces were temporary edifices. They were built with a material called "staff," a mixture of plaster of Paris and hemp fibers. As in Chicago, buildings and statues deteriorated visibly during the months of the Fair.
The Palace of Fine Art, designed by architect Cass Gilbert and featuring a grand interior sculpture court based on the Roman Baths of Caracalla. Standing at the top of Art Hill, it now serves as the home of the St. Louis Art Museum.
The Administration Building is now Brookings Hall, the defining landmark on the campus of Washington University. A copy of the building was erected at Northwest Missouri State University founded in 1905 in Maryville, Missouri. The grounds layout was also recreated in Maryville and now is designated as the official Missouri State Arboretum.
Some of the mansions from the Exposition's era survive along Lindell Boulevard at the north border of Forest Park. The official residence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Louis, built in 1894, is one.
The huge bird cage at the St. Louis Zoo dates to the fair.
Birmingham, Alabama's iconic cast iron Vulcan statue was first exhibited at the Fair in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.
The Missouri State building was planned as a permanent structure, but it burned down on November 18, and since the fair was almost over it was not rebuilt. After the fair, the World's Fair Pavillion was built on the site of the Missouri building.
Festival Hall was the site of the largest organ in the world at the time, built by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company. It was placed into storage and then eventually purchased by John Wanamaker for his new store in Philadelphia. See Wanamaker Organ for more details. Completed in 1913, the Jefferson Memorial building was built near the main entrance to the Exposition, at Lindell and DeBalivere. It was built with proceeds from the fair, to commemorate Thomas Jefferson, who initiated the Louisiana Purchase, and to store the Exposition's records and archives. It is now home to the Missouri History Museum.
[edit] Introduction of new foods
A number of foods are claimed to have been invented at the fair. The most widely accepted claim is that the waffle-style ice cream cone was invented and first sold during the fair. Other claims are more dubious, including the hamburger and hot dog (both traditional German foods), peanut butter, iced tea, and cotton candy. It is more likely, however, that these food items were first introduced to mass audiences and popularized by the fair.
Dr. Pepper was first introduced to a national audience at the fair.
The owners of Doumar's Cones and BBQ in Norfolk, Virginia claim that their uncle, Abe Doumar, sold the first ice cream cones at the St. Louis World's Fair.
[edit] Judy Garland movie
The Fair inspired the song Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis, which was recorded by many artists including Billy Murray. Both the Fair and the song are focal points of the 1944 Judy Garland movie Meet Me in St. Louis.
[edit] 1904 Summer Olympics
The Fair hosted the 1904 Summer Olympic Games, the first Olympics held in the United States. These games had originally been awarded to Chicago, but when St. Louis threatened to hold a rival international competition, the games were relocated. Nonetheless, the sporting events, spread out over several months, were overshadowed by the Fair. With travel expenses high, many European athletes did not come, nor did modern Olympics founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
[edit] Notable visitors
Notable attendees included John Phillip Sousa, whose band performed on opening day and several times during the fair; Scott Joplin; and Thomas Edison. President Theodore Roosevelt opened the fair via telegraph, but did not attend personally until after his re-election in November 1904, as he claimed he did not want to use the fair for political purposes.
Ragtime music was popularly featured at the Fair. Scott Joplin wrote "The Cascades" specifically for the fair, inspired by the waterfalls at the Grand Basin.
[edit] References
- ^ Handbook of Texas Online - KESSLER, GEORGE E.. Retrieved 18 May 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Online Exhibition by the Missouri Historical Society
- Homepage of the 1904 World's Fair Society
- Virtual Tour of the 1904 World's Fair
- Online Version of 1904 Illustrated Guide to the Fair
- Website for Forest Park (urban park located roughly on the site of the fair)
- Louisiana Purchase Exposition collection at the University of Delaware Library
- Another online exhibit of fair memorabilia
- An Edison company film of the Asia pavilion, at the Library of Congress
- The World's Greatest Fair (movie) (IMDB)
- Web site for "The World's Greatest Fair. An award winning documentary directed by Scott Huegerich and Bob Miano of Civil Pictures.
| Preceded by Exposition Universelle (1900) |
World Expositions 1904 |
Succeeded by Liège International |
