The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair THE PIKE:  Foreign Attractions

1904 W.F. Society

On these Pike Pages, the 50+ Pike attractions and
concessions are divided into several groups:

The approximate opening date for each attraction is in Green.
Information about similar concessions at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair are in Blue

1. United States Attractions

2. Foreign Cultures (this page)

3. Rides

4. Other Notable Concessions

 

The Tyrolean Alps at the 1904 World's Fair

Back to top

Foreign Cultures

Tyrolean Alps (Open on May 3)
-- 25¢ adult admission (other attractions: tram/rail ride - 25¢/15¢, Passion Play - 25¢/15¢ (+10¢ extra for reserved seat), walk through the Alps - 25¢/15¢, Royal Castle - 10¢/5¢, Magic Grotto - 10¢/5¢ - About 95¢ total for other attractions)

• Originated by Mr Adolphus Busch
• Nine acres were a recreation of Alpine scenery and village--complete with stream, gazebo, & 21 buildings
• Statue of Andreas Hofer in center, early 1800s German freedom fighter
• Snow-capped mountains contained a tram-car ride for a ride through the mountain valleys, including the birthplace of Mozart and a reproduction of the Royal Castle
• An elevator carried visitors to the mountain top at the end
• The theater presented scenes from Oberammergau Passion Play
• Bands of peasants garbed in native dress, and 2 chorus groups performed concerts
• The Luchow-Faust Cafe had seating for 4,800, and was catered by Tony Faust
• The St. Louis Inn, a 1^st Class restaurant and replica of a German Inn, seated 2,500
• The largest restaurant at the fair
• Will Rogers entertained at the restaurant
• The 1893 Chicago World's Fair had the German Village and the German Wienerwurst House

Back to top

Irish Village (Open on May 3)
-- 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢, Industrial Exhibit 15¢) - Dedicated June 11

• Built by the Irish Industrial Exhibition, it served as both Pike concession and the official Irish pavilion, with exhibits
• Displayed industry, art, and literature of Ireland
• Old Irish House of Parliament served as a large restaurant (capacity of 2,000), and as the fairgrounds entrance to the village
• St. Lawrence's Gate at Drogheda was the entrance from the Pike
• Cormac's Chapel (often "Carmac") was reproduced
• Blarney Castle was a theater for free performances - was heated
• Largest theater on the fairgrounds, seated 1,800
• John McCormack, famous tenor, was featured (London debut in 1907)
• Village exhibits/shops featured fine exhibition of Irish linen, laces, and carpets
• Dublin's 60-piece Army band and other bands played on a bandstand
• McKinlay Cottage, home of late President McKinley's ancestors, was reproduced
• Irish Village at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair also reproduced Blarney & Donegal Castles

Streets of Seville (Old Seville) (opened by May 10)
-- 25¢ adult admission (50¢ total, children 15¢, theater/bullfight 25¢)

• Designed by Mrs. Hattie McCall Travis (only woman, passed away before the fair)
• Entrance was reproduction of Madrid's Plaza de Toros, into the marketplace of Triana and Gypsy Lane of Barcelona
• Fortune tellers and street performers
• Court of Lions of the Alhambra, the climax of Moorish Architecture (with lions supporting a fountain)
• Theater de los Flores featured Spanish dancers and music, and a marionette/model bull fight, showing all aspects of bull fight without any 'objectionable features'
• Also a life-like bullfight model, with 200 figures about 28 inches high
• Separate entrance for "Girl from Madrid", Spanish fashions from village girls to aristocracy

Back to top

Fair Japan and Japanese Tea Gardens (Opened by June 1)
-- 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢, theater 15¢, 75¢ total for theater and other attractions)

• Street in Asakusa with acrobats, rickshaws (jinrikishaws), 300 natives, small Gardens with strange plants
• Tea Rooms (restaurant) with 40 Geisha Girls, over 40 stores and booths, seated 600
• Theater showed traditional Japanese dances and the "Spider Play", in which the entire stage becomes a web
• Entrance was through a 150' reproduction of a 300-year old "Portal of Nikko"
• Temple of Nikko (Nikko Gate) was a temple (or mortuary?) 80 miles from Tokyo
• After the Fair, the entrance pagoda was moved to Forest Park Highlands amusement park and used as a bandstand, with its large red columns. It was fitted with electric lights,
• The original pagoda was replaced with a smaller version in 1939, which burned in 1963 fire, that burned down most of the Highlands
• A few years later, the remainder of the Highlands were removed for the building of Forest Park Community College
• Fair Japan Bazaar, a free concession 'next door', sold Japanese souvenirs
• Japanese Bazaar was also at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair

-- Japanese Pavilion - near other country buildings, not on the Pike

• The official Japan pavilion was a replica of summer home of Prince Pu Lun of Japan; it often had military bands

-- Japanese Gardens - near Ferris Wheel, considered an 'attraction'

• Reproduced Imperial Gardens of Mikado
• Seven buildings and pagodas, built with materials from Japan
• Lagoons, shaped trees (man, bird, beast), cascades, bridges, geisha girls, roosters (with 20-foot tails), 200-year-old Bonsai Trees

Back to top

Ancient Rome
-- 25¢ adult admission ($1.00 total) (another source says 10¢, volcano 25¢/10¢, theater 35¢/10¢)

• Large arena, where gladiators competed for prizes at the Hippodrome in a Chariot Race
• Also ancient combat with broadsword, boxing, jousting
• Restaurant for both public and for Fair/Pike employees
• Venetian Theater has continuous performance of Roman Society Dance
• 200 persons, 40 animals (lions, tigers, leopards) illustrated the Roman slavery days
• One reference source also listed the Kilauea Volcano as a separate show in this attraction, to see "The Spirit of Fire", a Hawaiian 'god'
• Clouds of incense, smoke, fake fire
• Cyclorama of the Volcano of Kilauea, Hawaii was at 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Great Siberian Railway and Russian Village (Opened by May 25)
-- 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢, Village 10¢, Imperial Troop 25¢/15¢, 60¢ total for other attractions)

• A "trip" on train coaches, drawn by real locomotive
• From St. Petersburg (on the Baltic Sea), through Moscow, to Port Arthur (on the Sea of Japan).
• Russian train, Russian guards, equipment, etc.
• Past Siberian scenery - very realistic (multi-layers)
• Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Manchuria (scenes of Boxer Rebellion)
• 'Trip' ends in Russian Village of Port Arthur on Pacific Ocean
• Costumed natives sell their wares in a bazaar
• Russian Theater with 40 actors singing native songs and wedding ceremony (theater opened by May 7)
• Russian Imperial Troop from Moscow appear in the U.S. for the first time
• Tea house and Restaurant for the hungry visitors
• Imperial Russian Opera company performed in the theater
• Creation, Siberian Railway, and Deep Sea Divers all operated by same owners

Back to top

Chinese Village (Opened by mid-June)
-- 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢, theater 25¢, temple 10¢)

• Theater has continuous performances of actors, wedding ceremony, fire-eaters, magicians, musicians
• Bazaar where merchants sold silks, teas, carvings, also fortune tellers, games of chance
• Chinese Dragon Dance, Shanghai restaurant with tea house & garden
• Chinese Temple displayed religious rites
• Note: Provided by Association of Chinese Merchants of Philadelphia
• Though there was a Chinese Village at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, this was the first time China 'officially' participated in an International Exhibition

Constantinople
-- 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢, theater 25¢, 75¢ total)

• Eleven sections of the Bazaars of Stamboul (Istanboul), narrow streets, merchants cry out their wares
• Pike entrance is the Mosque of Nouri Osmaneh
• Turkish Village and Ottoman Hippodrome were at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Back to top

Streets of Cairo (Opened by May 10)
-- 25¢ adult admission (20¢ in guides, children 15¢, camel & donkey rides 10¢, 75¢ total for other attractions)

• Reproduced a street in Egyptian City (eclipsed Chicago's 1893 exhibit)
• 26 Egyptian buildings of Arabic architecture
• 67 booths/stands selling wares, street musicians, singing gypsies
• Street musicians and entertainers with monkeys, snakes
• International Restaurant seated 2,000 -- Alexandria Café, decorated in Egyptian splendor, served by Egyptian waiters
• Algerian and Tunisian Village and Egyptian Temple exhibits were at 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Paris and French Village
-- 25¢ adult admission (75¢ total, theater 50¢)

• French capital at its gayest, jousting tournaments in the street
• Cafe Chantant was the Vaudeville theater
• Theater had continuous performance by dancers, acrobats, comedians
• Cabaret Brannt (Bruant?) theater for productions and poetry, including the celebrated Champagne Dancers

Back to top

Moorish Palace
-- 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢)

• From Madam Tousard's in London, historical wax work and plastic exhibits
• Sultan's Harem and East Indian races and customs, foreign rulers
• Large tableaux depicts the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, discovery of Mississippi, burial of De Soto, transfer of Louisiana, and Lewis and Clark's expedition
• Booths and stands for souvenirs
• Moorish Palace was at 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Mysterious Asia (Opened by May 20)
-- 15¢ adult admission (children 10¢, Room of Wonders or Asiatic Theater 25¢, camel or elephant ride 10¢, 75¢ total for other attractions)

• Featured attractions: Taj Mahal temple (India), streets of Ceylon and Delhi, street and buildings of Calcutta, Persian (Teheran, Iran), white elephant of Burma, Golden Temple of Rangoon (Burma)
• Oriental Theater for performers, and "Room of Wonders"
• Elephants and camels could be seen or ridden
• Dancers performing native dances (Asia, Hootchie Kootchie by Princess Rajah, 'chair in mouth' tricks
• Bazaars and shops selling crafts and wares (ivory, rugs, carvings, etc.)
• British India restaurant seated 500
• East India Bazaar, Moorish Mosque, and Persian Palace were at 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Back to top

Ostrich Farm
-- 10¢ adult admission

• Sixty ostriches could be viewed (same as Chicago)
• California Ostrich Farm was at 1893 Chicago World's Fair

Boer War Official Program & Libretto

Boer War -- 25¢ adult admission bleachers (grandstand 50¢, reserved seats 75¢, box seats $1.00, village 25¢) Battles during the 1899-1902 Boer War depicted in large arena on 15-acre concession Battles scenes recreated actual battles from the war Employed 600 soldiers (some in actual uniforms) 500 horses, mules, oxen Show included parade, sporting events, horse racing, and the Battle of Transvaal (depicted twice daily) General DeWet's escape on horseback, jumping off a 'cliff' into a river The Official Program of the Boer War is a great piece of World's Fair memorabilia Also has a British encampment and South African villages (Boer, Zulu, Bushmen) Highest grossing military concession

Morocco (harem)
-- 25¢ adult admission

• Reproductions of walled city of Fez, with various desert tribes

Jerusalem (Open on May 3)
-- 50¢ adult admission (children 25¢, animal rides 10¢, crucifixion 10¢)

• Replica of the Holy City (walled city)
• 11 acres, 300 houses, 22 streets
• 1000 inhabitants from Jaffa, Moslems, Jews, Christians
• Jaffa Gate, birthplace of Christ in Bethlehem, Mosque of Omar, Wailing Wall
• Church of Holy Sepulchre with crucifixion of Christ representations
• Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrow) with the nine Stations of the Cross in Palestine (as they existed in 1904)
• Cycloramas of Crucifixion, Solomon's Temple, Mount of Olives, Dead Sea

Back to top