Louisiana Purchase Exposition

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Image:04Creation.JPG Image:Worlds-fair-st-louis-1904.png The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as The Saint Louis World's Fair, was a World's Fair held in 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 site (4.9 km²) was located at the present-day grounds of Forest Park, and was the largest of any fair to date. It was the first World's Fair to turn a profit, and the only one until the 1960's to do so. There were over 1,500 individual 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 there in less than a week's time. The Palace of Agriculture alone covered some 20 acres (324,000 m²) of space.

Image:04PalaceMines.JPG As with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, all but one of its grand, neo-Classical exhibition palaces were temporary edifices, constructed with a material called "staff", which was a mixture of plaster of Paris and hemp fibers. And as with Chicago, buildings and statues suffered visible deterioration during the months of the Fair.

The only permanent building was 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.

Other structures dating from the Fair are Brookings Hall on the campus of Washington University, some of the mansions along Lindell Boulevard on the north border of Forest Park originally built as national exhibits, and the huge bird cage at the St. Louis Zoo. The Missouri State building was planned as a permanent structure, but it burned down in October of 1904 and was not rebuilt.

Image:1904StLouisFair.JPG Exhibits were staged by 62 foreign nations, the United States government, and 43 of the U.S. states. In addition to the numerous exhibits put on by industries, cities, private organizations and corporations, theater troupes, and music schools, there were also carnival-type amusements found on "The Pike".

Image:04ObservationWheel.JPG 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 Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

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 of 1904, as he claimed he did not want to use the fair for political purposes.

A number of foods are claimed to have been invented at the Fair, including the hamburger, the hot dog, peanut butter, iced tea, the ice cream cone, and cotton candy. However, these claims are controversial and widely disputed. 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.

Birmingham, Alabama's iconic cast iron Vulcan statue was first exhibited at the Fair in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.

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.

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".

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