From Connecticut at the World's Fair (1904) is this photograph of a Connecticut state band at the then-administrative building for the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Connecticut Building at the 1904 World's Fair, 1904
From Connecticut at the World's Fair, Report of the Commissioners from Connecticut to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904.
The Connecticut General Assembly voted $100,000 for the exposition, divided up as follows:
Exhibits:
Education -- $7,500
Shell-fish -- $1,000
Farm products -- $7,000
Pomological (fruits -- primarily apples and walnuts) -- $4,000
Dairy -- $2,500
Tobacco -- $1,500
Horticulture -- $3,000
Ceremonies and Dedication Week Festival -- $25,000
Connecticut Building -- $30,000
Furnishings -- $7,500
Commission expenses -- $3,000
Sundries (other items) -- $2,500
Building maintenance -- $2,500
If the entire building cost $30,000, then the $1,000 exhibit on shellfish must have been quite the show.
Custom House and Post Office, 1878
From The Pictorial Guide to St. Louis (1878) by Camille Dry is this sketch of the old custom house for St. Louis, located at Olive and Third streets (parts of which are visible in other images on the site). Old Custom House was demolished in the 1930s as part of the Jeffersonal National Expansion Memorial.
Washington University in St. Louis, 1879
From Switzler's Illustrated History of Missouri (1879) is this sketch of the original Washington University in downtown St. Louis.
Mounds in Forest Park, 1903
From The Cahokia and Surrounding Mounds by David Bushnell (1904) is this stunning set of photographs of the Native American mounds originally located in Forest Park. The mound shown above, 3.5 feet high and 55 feet in diameter and noted as Mound F on the map below, was one of several demolished during the preparations for the World's Fair. Evidence of human remains was found in several (but not all of the mounds). Given the lack of vegetation, it seems likely that slumping occurred to a number of the mounds (as most were under 5 feet high).Bushnell writes that the photographs were taken at the ridge of the bluff in the park, near a bend in the River Des Peres. According to a map of the area from 1897 and 1903, that bend became the western corner of the waterway formed as part of Post-Dispatch Lake (the pool of water at the bottom of Art Hill). Bushnell stated that a set of small, low-lying mounds dotted the landscape near the river, while a set of taller mounds stood atop Art Hill. See map below for Bushnell's sketch of the locations of the mounds:
The Big Mound, 1869
From Switzler's Illustrated History of Missouri 1541-1877 (1879) comes this sketch of the largest Native American mound built in St. Louis near the time of its demolition in 1869. The Big Mound, as it was known, was near the intersection of Broadway and Mound Street in Old North St. Louis. It stood at least 30 feet high, was 150 feet in length, and had three terraced approaches facing the river for religious ceremonies. At one point in the 1820s, a small resort building was constructed at the top of the mound. Artifacts were found during its demolition.
Its only rival in size was the mound demolished to make way for Col. John O'Fallon's mansion in the 1850s. In 1875, ten years after O'Fallon's death, his mansion burned; it was demolished completely in 1893. The site is now O'Fallon Park.
St. Alphonsus Liguori, 1875
From Leaves from the history of St. Alphonsus's Church (1895) comes this photograph of the church prior to the addition of its steeple in the 1890s.
From Dry's Pictorial St. Louis (1875) comes this spliced image of two plates, showing St. Alphonsus Liguori in its earliest days. Note the lack of characteristic spire and no rock wall surrounding the building.
Interesting fact about St. Alphonsus: according to the Leaves from the history of St. Alphonsus's Church (1895), the altar was centered over one of the abundant Native American mounds that once dotted the St. Louis landscape. The mound was leveled to make way for the church.
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