My Great Grandparents Visited the St. Louis World's Fair - 1904

St. Louis celebrated the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase by hosting an international exposition* which was officially opened by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 30, 1904.**

[1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition poster showing area covered by the purchase-image found at Porter Briggs.com]

Before it closed on December 1st, nearly 19.7 million people visited the site, including my great grandparents Lewis Logan Slater and Rufina Ellen Tomlinson accompanied by their 14-year old daughter Opal. 

[13 Oct 1904, 8 - Democratic Messenger at Newspapers.com]

Since the railroad line goes right through Severy I'm sure they traveled to St. Louis by train.

[Kansas railroad map - Kansas Memory. Kansas Historical Society]

The Exposition fairgrounds sprawled over 1,270 acres:

[Panoramic aerial view of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) held in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. View was probably made from a tethered balloon at the Aeronautic Concourse in the northwest corner of the fairgrounds, looking roughly southwest. Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum]

[Ground Plan Of The Louisiana Purchase Exposition St. Louis, Mo. 1904. Buxton & Skinner Stationery Co. Publishers, Fourth & Olive St. St. Louis, Mo. Copyright, 1904 By Parker Eng. Co. Source: Davis Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

This daily program for the Exposition dates from a few days before the Slaters arrived, but it gives us an idea of the kind of event to be seen by visitors.

[An Official Daily Program from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition for Saturday, October 8th

found at the National Park Service-Gateway Arch site.]

[Order of the day from an Official Daily Program from the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition for Saturday, October 8th

found at the National Park Service-Gateway Arch site.]

I wonder if they brought home one of these?***

[Souvenir book of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, © 2017 The Wolfsonian—Florida International University]

*Here's a French poster:

[Poster for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, painted by artist Alphonse Mucha.

Wikimedia Commons]

**And a bust of President Roosevelt sculpted in butter was a featured exhibit.

[Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print]

***You can see the rest of the pages of this book here.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.