Kids create mini-version of 1904 World's Fair

Older kids at St. Richard Catholic School helped stage a mini-version of the 1904 World's Fair. They worked all semester to create both the all-school fair and a fair newspaper.

Eighth grader Brandon Lewellen researched inventions or products that were featured for the first time at the 1904 international exposition. "Did you know Dr. Pepper was created at the fair," he said.

Among other first-time foods at the 1904 world's fair were the ice-cream cone, pork steaks, hot dogs and St. Louis-style pizza. These are all food products that are popular to this day.

Eighth grader Theresa Nienaber was fascinated by the costs of things 100 years ago. She said, "I can't imagine going to a ball game and paying only 5 cents for a hot dog."

Of course, she acknowledged that wages also were very low in those days.

Fifth through eighth graders did the fair research. Then seventh and eighth graders put on the fair for all the students. St. Richard has classes from kindergarten to eighth grade.

The fair included entertainment, such as music, as well as a photo booth, replica postcards and fact-or-fiction contests. There were even power-point presentations explaining different aspects of the fair.

A student-written St. Louis Spectator newspaper highlighted a lot of fair exhibits.

One story talked about the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy. It included a working coal mine. Costing $500,000, it was the largest building at the fair. But, the Palace of Manufactures cost $720,000 and featured exhibits from 900 different industries.

Brandon Lewellen and Cindy Graeler

Among the industrial attractions were a big electric generator and the latest x-ray. Thomas Edison was there to demonstrate some of his inventions.

Eighth grader Joseph Pollmann was intrigued by the fact that $450,000 was spent just on music for the fair.

Eighth grader Cindy Graeler accompanied the school choir at the in-school fair. She did a piano rendition of "The Entertainer." The choir sang fair-era tunes such as "Meet Me in St. Louis," "Good Night Ladies" and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow."

The original fair's Festival Hall had the world's largest pipe organ. It was 150-feet wide.

Another fair attraction involved comic book characters Buster Brown, Mary Jane and their talking dog, Tige. The comic has passed on but the Buster Brown name lives on.

The Brown Shoe Co. of St. Louis licensed the character's names and images.

One big attraction that got a lot of attention was the fair's giant 250-foot ferris wheel.

One of the Spectator newspaper's articles said fair visitors could get a lunch to-go from the Ferris Wheel Diner. That way, they could picnic while on their Ferris wheel ride.

The article said, "The thought of eating while moving through the air hundreds of feet above the ground make people feel a comfortable thrill of expectation." There's no explanation of whether the riders' stomachs agreed with that assessment.

Eighth grader Maggie Carthen said the most unique part of her fair research involved studying "all the different cultures there."

Joe Pollmann and Andy Mast

The exhibits included unusual peoples such as pygmies from Africa and Igorot natives from The Phillippines. The Igorots were said to be cannibals who ate their opponents after they were defeated in warfare.

The kids were intrigued by the high ranking St. Louis had among the country's big cities. The fair attracted President Theodore Roosevelt and the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia.

Eighth grader Andy Mast said St. Louis "seemed to be a big industrial city then."

Theresa Nienaber and Maggie Carthen

Andy was the artist who created the displays used at the photo booths. He said he got his ideas by looking up the fashions of the early 1900s. Kids were photographed when they stood behind and put their faces through a hole cut in the display.

Andy said the boys' display featured a man "in a suit and pants with a big top hat." The girls' display featured a woman in an old-fashioned dress "with a big, feathered hat."

Over 19 million people attended the 1904 World's Fair. The fair ran from May through November in a location that includes much of Forest Park in St. Louis. Also, some of the original buildings on the Washington University hill campus were built for the fair.

To handle the crowds of spectators, the World's Fair had its own police force, the Jefferson Guards. The fairgrounds included a jail and a courtroom with its own judge.

Compared to the high fair attendance, the crime rate wasn't high. But, there were thefts, murders and even a train robbery on the grounds.