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The 1904
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Also known as the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition, the 1904
Originally planned for 1903, it was delayed
to 1904 to permit the completion of construction for states, foreign countries,
and the gathering of countless exhibits from around the world.
By far the largest of the several
Victorian-era world's fairs, the fair occupied over 1,200 acres at the western
edge of
Below are facts, figures, and statistics
about the 'Greatest of Expositions'. Most statistical information was taken
from David R. Francis, The Universal Exposition of 1904, ©
1913, but other sources were also used.
- Fair History & Facts
- Fair Myths and Legends
- Construction of the Fair
- Exhibits at the Fair
- Fair Trivia
- Festival Hall and The Palaces
- The
- David R. Francis (1850-1927) was the Fair's
president. He also served as Mayor of St. Louis, Governor of Missouri and
as Secretary of the Interior prior to the Fair, and Ambassador to
David Rowland Francis
- "Dedication Day" was held on April 30,
1903, in the completed
- Covering 1,240 acres, the
- The Fair encompassed the western half of
- "The Pike" was the Fair's entertainment center with
over 50 attractions: amusement rides and fictional trips, 'trips' to the
North Pole and Paris, animal displays, museums, firefighter exhibitions,
the Tyrolean Alps village and restaurant, and other 'villages' from
France, Egypt, Ireland, and Japan.
"Creation" on The Pike at the 1904 World's Fair
- The 1904 Olympics were held during at the Fair,
the third modern day Olympics, and the first ever held in
- An 11-acre Aeronautic Concourse was surrounded
by 3,365 feet of 30-foot high fencing.
- The first successful controlled dirigible flight
was accomplished by Roy Knabenshue, who flew T. S. Baldwin's dirigible
airship "California Arrow".
- Over 20 million people attended the Fair. The
Opening Day crowd of 178,423 was a record for World’s Fairs. The highest
attendance was on
- The
- President Roosevelt attended the Fair on November
26, 1904. just 5 days before it closed.
- Over 200,000 attended Closing Day, and about
100,000 people witnessed the closing of the Fair at midnight on December
1, 1904.
Fair Myths and Legends
More details about Truths and Myths of the 1904 Fair are at Fair Structures and Fair Foods
- The World's Fair Pavilion was not
built for (or during) the Fair. It was built with proceeds from the fair
in 1909-10 during
The World's Fair Pavilion - - - - - - The
- Likewise, the Jefferson Memorial History Museum was
built after the Fair, and dedicated in 1913. It is located on the site of the
main entrance to the Fair.
- The Ice Cream Cone is often credited with being
invented at the Fair, when an ice cream vendor ran out of dishes and used
thin waffles from a neighboring booth to make cones. Several variations
of this story exist, and a 1903 patent on an edible Ice Cream
'container' (with handles and flat bottom) make this 'invention' at the
Fair debatable.
- The Hot Dog was certainly popularized at
the Fair, but was likely 'invented' earlier by German immigrants,
and was sold at many baseball parks.
- Although many popular stories exist about the invention
of Iced Tea at the fair on a hot
- Dr. Pepper was introduced to the country at the Fair,
though it was invented in 1885 in
Construction of the Fair
- The exteriors of the major Palaces and exterior
sculptures were made of staff, a mixture of plaster and hemp.
- Over 100 sculptors made over 1,000 sculptures at a cost of $500,000.
- The "Apotheosis of St. Louis" statue
near the Fair's entrance was originally made from staff. In 1906, it was
recast in bronze and given to the city of
St. Louis IX and "Nothing Impossible"
- Thirteen buildings of the newly-built
The
- The Inside Inn hotel had over 2,000 rooms for
4,500 people to stay on the fairgrounds.
- A passenger train called the Intramural Railway
circled the fairgrounds, with 17 stops and 15 miles of double-track.
Exhibits at the Fair
- The exhibits took over 12,000 railroad
carloads to deliver to the fair. They came from over 40 foreign countries,
43 states, and several
- Exhibit competitions were held in 807
categories, using international juries to select 33,150 awards.
- The Floral Clock was 112 feet in
diameter, and had a minute hand 74 feet
long.
The Floral Clock
- An 80 foot paper mache whale was
exhibited in the U.S. Government Building.
- The Philippine Exhibit occupied 47 acres,
had 92 buildings, 1,100 natives from several tribes, and featured the
Walled City of Manila and the
Philippine Exhibit -
- The 228-foot long Bird Cage was built by
the Smithsonian Institution to house the U. S. Bird Exhibit. The city of
The Flight Cage
- The Liberty Bell traveled west of the
Mississippi River for first time, and was on display in the
The
- Agriculture exhibits included a model of a 39
pound turnip grown north of the
- Exhibit 'sculptures' included a walnut
elephant, a pecan horse, a prune bear, and a butter sculpture of President
Roosevelt.
- Many of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Gifts
and
- Thomas Edison had a display of his inventions.
- A 5-acre plant map of the
- The log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was
born was displayed at the Lincoln Exhibit.
- Ulysses S. Grant's log cabin was displayed, built by him in
1854.
- The livestock exhibits occupied 37 acres.
- The
- A Brazilian display had flowers made from
bird feathers and beetle wings.
Fair Trivia
- The great 264' Ferris Wheel was first used at
the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. It had 36 wooden cars, each holding 60
people, for a total capacity of 2160. Rides cost 50 cents.
The Ferris Wheel
- No one knows for sure if the Ferris Wheel's
70-ton, 45-foot axle was taken away after the wheel was destroyed
for scrap, or is still buried on the Fairgrounds.
- A snow storm 10 days before the Fair
opened nearly impacted the Fair's opening day.
- Geronimo and Chief Joseph were at the Fair.
- The ice plant produced 300 tons of ice
per day.
- 1,679,000 trees, shrubs, and vines were planted.
- The city of
- The music programs were appropriated $450,000.
Festival Hall and The Palaces
Festival Hall
- About 200' in diameter, 200' high, the dome was
larger than St. Peter's Basilica in
- Sat atop Art Hill, in front of the
Festival Hall and 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.
Palace of Varied Industries
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
U. S.
- 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.