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The 1904 |
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The Louisiana Purchase Exposition
took place from April 30 to December 1, 1904, in
Over a dozen major exhibit buildings were
constructed at the 1904
The links on this page take
you to pages in "Terry's 1904 World's Fair Website", which has pictures of buildings from handouts in the 1904 St. Louis
Post-Dispatch newspaper, and descriptions taken from The Greatest of
Expositions souvenir book of 1904.
Below are facts, figures, and statistics
about the buildings at the 1904
- About 200' in diameter, 200' high, the dome was
larger than St. Peter's Basilica in
- Sat atop Art Hill, in front of the
- The exterior was designed by the famed architect Cass
Gilbert. The cascades and sculpture, the massive side colonnades
(fifty feet high) and the interior architecture of the building were all
designed by the chief of designer of the Exposition, Mr. E. L.
Masqueray, of
- The auditorium could seat 3,500 people and held the
largest pipe organ in the world, with five manuals, 140 stops, 239
movements, and 10,059 pipes.
- 525' x 1,059', about 12 acres.
- Cost $704,000 to build.
- Displayed textiles, woodwork, silver, copper,
furniture, watches, jewelry, clocks and watches, home decorations.
- Also 525' x 1,059', also about 12 acres, over three
football fields long.
- Cost $723,000.
- Featured retail products such as textiles, pottery,
glass, lace, needlework, clothing, cutlery, sewing, glass, cutlery, and a
working shoe factory. Large exhibits by
- 525' x 750', over 9 acres.
- Cost $477,000.
- Displayed science, photography, music, medicine,
business machines, coins, and medals. Also an exhibit of models of famous
lighthouse, musical instruments, printing machinery, and many exhibits
from
Palace of Mines and Metallurgy
- 525' x 750', also over 9 acres, designed by Theodore
Link.
- Cost $499,000.
- Two 140'-tall decorated obelisks flanked each main
entrance. Featured minerals, gems, ore, metals, maps and charts, and
various mining equipment.
Palace of Education and Social Economy
- 525' x 644', about 7 acres.
- Cost $365,000.
- Displayed actual school classes in session, educational
training, and training for the blind and deaf. Exhibits of colleges,
countries, states, and cities.
- 525' x 644', about 7 acres.
- Cost $413,000.
- Exhibited electrical equipment and appliances, x-ray
machine, telegraph, telephone, batteries, and dynamos.
- 525' x 1000', over 12 acres.
- Cost $511,000.
- German influence, had towers at each corner, and two
central towers on North side that were 265 feet high.
- Featured pumps, tools, presses, power generation,
milling. Contained the power plant for the Exposition, generating 45,000
horsepower, as well as many other generators and dynamos.
- 525' x 1300', 15.6 acres.
- Cost $685,000.
- Featured several giant 52-foot
archways over the main entrances; the only palace with no columns.
- Displayed historic and current transportation devices,
including mules, dog teams, oxen, horse carriages, trolleys, motorboats, a
full-rigged yacht, and many trains (historic, current, and new) on over 4
miles of track.
- The display of automobiles showed the remarkable
possibilities of this new means of travel.
- Centrally located was the working exhibit of the C. C.
C. & St. L. Railway (Big Four Route), a monster 162-ton locomotive
and tender mounted on a turntable, which revolved so that the headlight,
carried high in air, illuminated every corner of the great building.
- 346' x 160' (the permanent structure, today's Art
Museum), and two side annexes (temporary structures, which were 199' x
422' each).
- Cost about $1 million. It was designed by famed
architect Cass Gilbert.
- The
- Exhibited thousands of paintings and sculptures
from around the world in 135 galleries.
- 250 x 764', cost $400,000, over 4 acres.
- Exhibited artifacts from the Smithsonian Institute,
guns and cannons, a dinosaur, and 'half' of a full-size battleship.
- A working coin press from the U.S. Mint made about
100,000 souvenir coins.
- 500' x 1,600', about 18 acres, over 1/4 mile
long!
- Cost $525,000, the largest exhibit palace at the
Fair.
- Exhibited foreign and domestic food products,
food processing, agricultural implements, seeds, breads, wines, and
products for insect control and plant disease.
- 400' x 800', over 5 acres.
- Cost
$227,000.
- Displayed
fruits, nuts, flowers, shrubs, tropical plants and grasses. Also a large
outdoor Horticulture exhibit was nearby.