St. Louis' status as an up-and-coming city garnered interest from many reporters and photographers who attended the World's Fair and found its citizens constantly on the "go" and the streets "crowded with activity". One observer remarked that, at this time, St. Louis had more energy in its streets than any other northern city did.
Buildings With more and more people interested in the city, St. Louis government and architects were primarily concerned with their ports and access to the city. The city originating as a trading post, transportation by water was important. It was becoming even more important that the port be open, but efficient for all visitors. It also needed to show off some of the city's flair and excitement, which is why in many photographs one sees photos of St. Louis' skyscrapers in the background. In addition to a functioning port, the
Eads Bridge was constructed, which was considered one of St. Louis' "sights". At long, it connected Missouri and Illinois, and was the first large-scale application of steel as a structural material. ) The huge bird cage at the
Saint Louis Zoological Park, dates to the fair. A
Jain temple carved out of teak stood within the Indian Pavilion near the
Ferris Wheel. It was dismantled after the exhibition and was reconstructed in Las Vegas at the
Castaways hotel. It has recently been reassembled and is now on display at the
Jain Center of Southern California at Los Angeles.
Birmingham, Alabama's iconic
cast iron Vulcan statue was first exhibited at the Fair in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy. Additionally, a plaster reproduction of
Alma Mater at
Columbia University by
Daniel Chester French was displayed at the Grand Sculpture Court of the exhibition. The Missouri State building was the largest of the state buildings, as Missouri was the host state. Though it had sections with marble floors and heating and air conditioning, it was planned to be a temporary structure. However, it burned the night of November 18–19, just eleven days before the Fair was to end. Most interior contents were destroyed, but furniture and much of the Model Library were undamaged. The fair being almost over, the building was not rebuilt. In 1909–10, the current World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park was built on the site of the Missouri building with profits from the fair. console, installed in 1928. Festival Hall, designed by
Cass Gilbert and used for large-scale musical pageants, contained the largest
organ in the world at the time, built by the
Los Angeles Art Organ Company (which went bankrupt as a result). The great organ was debuted by the fair's official organist,
Charles Henry Galloway. Though the opening concert was scheduled for the first day of the fair, complications related to its construction resulted in the opening concert being postponed until June 9. After the fair, the organ was placed into storage, and eventually purchased by
John Wanamaker for his new
Wanamaker's store in
Philadelphia where it was tripled in size and became known as the
Wanamaker Organ. The famous Bronze Eagle in the Wanamaker Store also came from the Fair. It features hundreds of hand-forged bronze feathers and was the centerpiece of one of the many German exhibits.
Wanamaker's became a
Lord & Taylor store and more recently, a
Macy's store. . This exhibit was dismantled and moved to
Coney Island's
Dreamland amusement park at the end of the fair. Completed in 1913, the Jefferson Memorial building was built near the main entrance to the Exposition, at Lindell and DeBalivere. It was built with proceeds from the fair, to commemorate
Thomas Jefferson, who initiated the Louisiana Purchase, as was the first memorial to the third President. It became the headquarters of the
Missouri History Museum, and stored the Exposition's records and archives when the Louisiana Purchase Exposition company completed its mission. The building is now home to the Missouri History Museum, and the museum was significantly expanded in 2002–3. The
State of Maine Building, which was a rustic cabin, was transported to
Point Lookout, Missouri where it overlooked the
White River by sportsmen who formed the Maine Hunting and Fishing Club. In 1915, when the main building at the
College of the Ozarks in
Forsyth, Missouri burned, the school relocated to Point Lookout, where the Maine building was renamed the Dobyns Building in honor of a school president. The Dobyns Building burned in 1930 and the college's signature church was built in its place. In 2004, a replica of the Maine building was built on the campus. The Keeter Center is named for another school president. The
observation tower erected by the
American DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company was brought to the Fair when it became a hazard near Niagara Falls and needed to be removed because in the wintertime, ice from the fall's mist would form on the steel structure, and eventually fall onto the buildings below. It served as a communications platform for Lee DeForest's work in wireless telegraphy and a platform to view the fair. As Niagara Falls was near Buffalo New York, it was also called the Buffalo Tower After the World's Fair, it was moved to Creve Coeur Lake to be part of that park. The
Swedish Pavilion is still preserved in
Lindsborg, Kansas. Designed by Swedish architect
Ferdinand Boberg, it is the only one of his international exposition buildings in existence today. After the fair, the Pavilion was moved to
Bethany College in Lindsborg, where it was used for classroom, library, museum and department facilities for the art department. In 1969, it was moved to the
Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum where it serves as a venue for community events. The Pavilion was added to the
National Historic Register in 1973.
Westinghouse Electric sponsored the Westinghouse Auditorium, where they showed films of Westinghouse factories and products. Some mansions from the Exposition's era survive along Lindell Boulevard at the north border of Forest Park.
Introduction of new foods A number of foods are claimed to have been invented at the fair. The most popular claim is that of the waffle-style
ice cream cone. However, its popularization, not invention, is widely believed to have taken place here. Dubious claims include the
hamburger and
hot dog (both traditional American and European foods of German origin),
peanut butter,
iced tea, and
cotton candy. Again, popularization is more likely.
Dr Pepper and
Puffed Wheat cereal were introduced to a national audience. Freeborn
Annie Fisher received a gold medal for her
beaten biscuits famous in her hometown of
Columbia, Missouri. President
William Howard Taft enjoyed them on his 1911 visit to Missouri. Though not the debut of as many foods as claimed, the fair offered what was essentially America's first food court. Visitors sampled a variety of fast foods, dined in dozens of restaurants, and strolled through the mile-long pike. As one historian said of the fair, "one could breakfast in France, take a mid-morning snack in the Philippines, lunch in Italy, and dine in Japan."
Influence on popular music and literature 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 feature film
Meet Me in St. Louis starring
Judy Garland, which also inspired a
Broadway musical version.
Scott Joplin wrote the rag "Cascades" in honor of the elaborate waterfalls in front of Festival Hall. A book entitled
Wild Song, by
Candy Gourlay, was inspired by the Louisiana Purchase.
People on display Following the
Spanish–American War, the
peace treaty granted the
United States control over
Guam, the
Philippines, and
Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico had had a quasi-autonomous government as an "overseas province" of Spain, and the Philippines, having declared independence after the 1896–1899
Philippine Revolution, fought US annexation in the 1899–1902
Philippine–American War. These areas controversially became
unincorporated territories of the United States in 1899, and people were brought from these territories to be on "display" at the 1904 fair. The fair displayed 1,102
Filipinos, 700 of them
Philippine Scouts and
Philippine Constabulary, used for controlling conflict among Filipinos and between Filipinos and fair organizers. Displays included the
Apache of the
American Southwest and the
Igorots of the Philippines, both of which peoples were noted as "primitive". Within the Philippine reservation, was a school which was actively teaching Igorot students. At least two
Moros were photographed while praying at the fair. The Philippine reservation at the exposition cost $1.1 million (equivalent to $ in ) to create and operate. The people had been trafficked under harsh conditions, and many did not survive. Burial plots in two St. Louis cemeteries were prepared in advance. However, traditional burial practices were not allowed. Some of the people to be exhibited died en route or at the fair and their bodies were immediately removed. Funeral rites had to be conducted without the bodies in front of an oblivious public audience of fair attendees. Organizers choreographed ethnographic displays, having customs which marked special occasions restaged day after day. Athletic events such as a basketball tournament were held to demonstrate the success of the
Indian Boarding Schools and other assimilation programs. These efforts were confirmed with the
Fort Shaw Indian School girls basketball team who were declared "World Champions" after beating every team who faced them in these denominational games. It has been argued that the "overriding purpose of the fair really centered on an effort to promote America's new role as an overseas imperial power", and that "While the juxtaposition of "modern" and "primitive" buttressed assumptions of racial superiority, representations of Native American and Filipino life created an impression of continuity between westward expansion across the continent and the new overseas empire."
Ota Benga, a Congolese Pygmy, was featured at the fair. Later he was held captive at the
Bronx Zoo in New York, then featured in an exhibit on evolution alongside an
orangutan in 1906, but public protest ended that. In contrast, the
Japan pavilion advanced the idea of a
modern yet exotic culture unfamiliar to the turn-of-the-century Western world, The Japanese government spent lavishly: $400,000, plus $50,000 from the Japanese colonial government of
Formosa, with an additional $250,000 coming from Japanese commercial interests and regional governments; all told, this totaled $700,000 (equivalent to $ in ). A garden, set on the hillside south of the Machinery Hall and Engine House, featured a replica of Kyoto's famous
Kinkakuji, showing Japan's ancient sophistication, and a
Formosa Mansion and Tea House, showing her modern colonial efforts. A second exhibition, "Fair Japan on the 'Pike'", organized by
Kushibiki and Arai, welcomed the public through a large
Niōmon-style gate into a realm of geisha-staffed exotic Japanese consumerism. In 2025, a historical marker was placed in the
Wydown-Skinker neighborhood to commemorate the location of the Philippine Village, following years of advocacy by
Filipino American artist Janna Añonuevo Langholz.
Exhibits After the fair was completed, many of the international exhibits were not returned to their country of origin, but were dispersed to museums in the United States. For example, the Philippine exhibits were acquired by the
Museum of Natural History at the
University of Iowa. The
Vulcan statue is today a prominent feature of the Vulcan Park and Museum in
Birmingham, Alabama, where it was originally cast. The
Smithsonian Institution coordinated the US government exhibits. It featured a blue whale, the first full-cast of a
blue whale ever created. One exhibit of note was
Beautiful Jim Key, the "educated" Arabian-Hambletonian cross horse in his Silver Horseshoe Pavilion. He was owned by Dr. William Key, an African-American/Native American former slave, who became a respected self-taught veterinarian, and promoted by Albert R. Rogers, who had Jim and Dr. Key on tour for years around the US, helping to establish a humane movement that encouraged people to think of animals as having feelings and thoughts, and not just "brutes". Jim and Dr. Key became national celebrities along the way. Rogers invented highly successful marketing strategies still in use today. Jim Key could add, subtract, use a cash register, spell with blocks, tell time and give opinions on the politics of the day by shaking his head yes or no. Jim thoroughly enjoyed his "act"—he performed more than just tricks and appeared to clearly understand what was going on. Dr. Key's motto was that Jim "was taught by kindness" instead of the whip, which he was indeed.
Daisy E. Nirdlinger's book,
Althea, or, the children of Rosemont plantation (illustrated by Egbert Cadmus (1868–1939)) was adopted by the Commissioners of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition as the official souvenir for young people. ==Olympics==