New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904 | Page 3

in New York city, and was made Recorder of the city in 1773. Elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, he was appointed one of a committee of five to draft the Declaration of Independence, but enforced absence from Philadelphia made it impossible for him to sign the document. He was soon after elected Chancellor of the State of New York, and as such administered the oath of office to George Washington as first President of the United States. His previous training in public affairs admirably fitted him for assuming the important duties leading to the transfer of the Louisiana territory, and to him as much as to any individual belongs the credit for the successful consummation of the transaction.
At the Exposition a handsome statue of Livingston, by Lukemann, was erected in the Cascade Gardens, on the approach to the West Pavilion. Upon the front of the New York State Building appeared this legend: "Robert R. Livingston of New York, Minister to France 1801-1805, inaugurated the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase and was the first to sign the treaty."
ORIGIN OF THE EXPOSITION
The first action looking towards the commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase was taken at a meeting of the Missouri Historical Society in September, 1898, when a committee of fifty citizens was appointed to take the preliminary steps looking to the observance of the occasion. This committee recommended the submission of the question to a convention of delegates, representing all the Louisiana Purchase states, and at this convention, which was held at the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, January 10, 1899, it was decided to hold a World's Fair as the most fitting commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the acquisition of the Louisiana territory. An executive committee, with the Hon. David R. Francis as chairman, was appointed to carry out the undertaking, and this committee determined that at least $15,000,000, the amount paid to France for the territory, would be needed.
ACTION BY CONGRESS
Congress passed a bill in June, 1900, carrying a provisional appropriation of $5,000,000, and pledging governmental support if the city of St. Louis raised $10,000,000. The people went to work with a will and had raised $5,000,000 by popular subscription early in January, 1901, and the following January thirtieth an ordinance was passed by the St. Louis Municipal Assembly authorizing the issuance of $5,000,000 in city bonds. On March twelfth President McKinley appointed a National Commission of nine members, and in August issued a proclamation inviting all the nations of the world to participate in the Exposition. Owing to labor difficulties and delay in securing construction material it soon became evident that it would be impossible to hold the fair during the year 1903, as originally planned. Legislation being necessary in order to provide for the necessary postponement, a bill was passed by Congress and approved by President Roosevelt June 25, 1902, authorizing the holding of the fair in 1904 instead of 1903, as originally determined.
Beginning with the basic appropriation of $15,000,000, [Footnote: In the winter of 1904 a bill was passed by Congress authorizing a Government loan of $4,600,000 to the Exposition Company, to be repaid in instalments from the gate receipts. The loan was entirely canceled early in November, 1904.] as described above, to which had been added $1,000,000 appropriated by the State of Missouri, the great enterprise was projected on a $50,000,000 basis. It was planned to make the universal Exposition at St. Louis the most comprehensive and wonderful that the world had ever seen. How well its projectors succeeded is a matter of recent history. How completely all previous expositions were eclipsed has been told many times in picture and in print.
THE SITE
The site chosen for the Exposition included the western portion of Forest Park, one of the finest parks in the United States. Its naturally rolling ground afforded many opportunities for effective vistas, which were quickly embraced by the Exposition Company's landscape artists. Containing 1,240 acres, it was a tract approximately two miles long and one mile wide.
The grounds might be said to have been divided into two general sections, the dividing line being Skinker road. To the east was the main picture, so called, which was formed by the grouping of eight magnificent exhibit palaces around Festival Hall, the Colonnade of States and Cascade Gardens.
THE MAIN PICTURE
Festival Hall stood upon a rise of ground well above the principal exhibit palaces, and its majestic dome surmounted by a gilded figure of "Victory," the first "Victory" to take the form of a man, was visible from most any part of the grounds. The grouping of the exhibit palaces was geometric in arrangement, in shape like an open fan, the ribs of the fan being the waterways and plazas between which the exhibit palaces were located.
THE ARCHITECTURE
The architecture, while varied and in some instances