1904 St. Louis World's Fair

The St. Louis World's Fair, more properly known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, was designed to celebrate the centennial of the historic land acquisition in 1803. It was delayed a year to enable more international participation. An estimated 20 million people visited the Fair between April 30 and December 1, 1904.

See the Library of Congress' digitized map of the fair venue, which covered over 1200 acres, to pinpoint the locations of the views and buildings. 

The 212-page "Official Guide to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition" has also been digitized for online viewing and searching.

A detailed description of Kansas' participation is available in the Kansas Government Information (KGI) Online Library's Report of the Kansas commissioners to the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904 (1905) and a nice summary with images of the Kansas building and stained glass window in a Kansapedia entry by the Kansas State Historical Society.

Please be aware that the language used in these items may reflect attitudes and prejudices prevalent at the time.

View All Items in the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Collection

T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
This view of the majestic Festival Hall, the richest architectural jewel of the Exposition, was taken from the slope east of the building, near the…
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
The Government of the United States has generously participated in all the important expositions in the country, and its building at the Louisiana…
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
When the lights were turned on the effect was enchanting, as thousands testified who broke forth in monosyllables of ecstasy, when they first beheld…
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
The remarkable advance in electrical engineering and the new discoveries in the sciences during the last ten years made the exhibition in the Palace…
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
One of the architectural triumphs of the Exposition was the successful blending of classical architecture with the wealth of form which the modern…
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
On an island created by the digging of the lagoons stood in purely classical, Grecian architecture the Palace of Education.
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
The guns shown in the picture are twelve-inch guns for battleships.
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
Texas has a total land area of 262,290 square miles, or 167,865,600 acres, of which seventy-five per cent are farm land.
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
This birdseye view takes in the Palace of Liberal Arts in the left foreground, the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, one of the pavilions flanking the…
T.W. (Truman Ward) Ingersoll
Missouri selected a Roman type of architecture, crowning the whole with a hemispherical gilded dome topped with a large statue of Winged Victory.

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