In 1904, St. Louis hosted The World’s Fair under the banner of The Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The seven-month-long event attracted over 19,000,000 attendees - or about a quarter of the US population at that time. It completely transformed St. Louis into a modern international center for trade and commerce on the Mississippi.
I attended the premiere of the Missouri Historical Society’s World’s Fair exhibit at the Missouri History Museum, which paid homage to St. Louis’ “Greatest Ever” undertaking. It was great to connect with some of my former colleagues from when I served as U.S. Commissioner General of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai at the event.
Learning about the exposition and St. Louis at the time was fascinating. No previous world fair had brought together so many different cultures and countries, and the event promoted the city on the global stage by celebrating America’s modernity and innovation. It was larger than any prior exposition and covered 1,200 acres of the western corner of Forest Park. Many advancements of the time were on display for visitors to learn more about, such as innovations in agricultural science.
While so many transformative ideas came from the exposition, there is also a darker side that this exhibit intends to reflect on with sensitive and inclusive conversation. Although the fair was a space where a vendor might have created a well-liked invention like the ice cream cone, it was also somewhere vendors might not have served Black people. The Missouri Historical Society promises to highlight the complex nature of the fair’s history and promote a brighter path to the future.
Since visiting, I have been thinking about how hosting a big event like the World’s Fair can affect the layout of a city even a century later and help change a region for the better. While my hometown’s “Great” undertaking was over 120 years ago, this exhibit makes me believe that an ambitious project is just what St. Louis needs to return to greatness after 50 years of decline.
World Fairs give the opportunity to engage with others in a diplomatic way to learn about new cultures and collabore to examine solutions to our shared issues. The connection and innovation international expos yield is necessary for societal advancement, and I look forward to visiting the USA Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, next!
This interactive exhibit, which includes artifacts and images, will open to the public on April 27th and remain on display for the next six years. I encourage everyone in the St. Louis area to visit and learn more about it.
