music
Over time, St. Louis has seen it all “at the crossroads of the country” which has allowed the city’s music to be vibrant and diverse as styles and sounds traveled through the area. St. Louis is associated to the blues, jazz, ragtime, and rock n’ roll and artists such as Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Ike and Tina Turner, Albert King, and many more. In 1880 the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra was founded and since then has accumulated six Grammy Awards and fifty-six nominations. [1] In 1960 was the peak of music and entertainment due to the Gaslight Square, which was a nightclub that attracted nationally known musicians. This was a very popular place but crowds became chaotic and soon there was more activity than the Square could handle until finally it came to an end in 1969. The area has undergone housing development and is now residential. [2] During the World’s Fair, a song was also composed for St. Louis that was titled “Meet me in St. Louis.”
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Food |
Influences from Italy, Germany, Ireland, and France have all contributed to St. Louis’s food culture. Their five signature foods include toasted ravioli which is deep fried, stuffed with beef or cheese, and served golden brown. In regards to pizza, thin crust and sliced into squares is preferred. Pork Steaks which are a tougher cut of meat but with sweet BBQ sauce, it makes a perfect meal. The gooey butter cake is a coffee cake with cream cheese that is quite irresistible and finally the slinger is for all-nighters that combines eggs, hash browns, and a hamburger patty topped with chili, cheese, and onions. [4]
St. Louis World's Fair
A significant event for modern culture was the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904 also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This event celebrated many of the victories that came with expanding westward and achieving the dream from sea to shining sea. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company describes “how organizers promoted the fair as a catalog of the worlds’ knowledge, showcasing exhibits of anthropology and technology, among others […] to impress on visitors the orderliness and hierarchical designations of civilized nations.” Comparatively, historians have presented the fair as a promotion of “racialized anthropology and the justification of imperial conquest.” Despite the views, through the lens of the fairgoers, the experience was of entertainment, understanding displays and concessions, opportunity for family reunions and professional meetings, and most of all creating an identity in the changing culture and expanding nation. [5]
Nearly 20 million attended from April 20, 1904 to December 1, 1904. The world got to enjoy ice cream cones, ice tea, and hotdogs for the first time. They got to experience a little bit of the world but mostly of the world to come. From food, to rides, to education, the Fair had it all. Simultaneously, the Summer Olympics were being held for the first time in the US right there in St. Louis only to add to the excitement, although the events were overshadowed by the Fair. For St. Louis this was a defining moment because of the process it took to create the Fair.
Nearly 20 million attended from April 20, 1904 to December 1, 1904. The world got to enjoy ice cream cones, ice tea, and hotdogs for the first time. They got to experience a little bit of the world but mostly of the world to come. From food, to rides, to education, the Fair had it all. Simultaneously, the Summer Olympics were being held for the first time in the US right there in St. Louis only to add to the excitement, although the events were overshadowed by the Fair. For St. Louis this was a defining moment because of the process it took to create the Fair.
They were not hoping to simply create an entertaining and educational atmosphere, rather St. Louis had a vision to present itself as the vanguard of technological and educational advances looking to the future with hope and the promise of a more civilized life. For these reasons the process was even more valuable to the city in the development as a community and of the land. The construction of the World Fair demonstrates human perseverance as designers joined civic planners, and an army of 10,000 laborers to transform Forest park into a showcase of urban design. They used freight trains to sculpt the land and they rerouted the River Des Peres through the use of sewer pipes. George Kessler was the chief landscape architect; he produced topographical maps, coded the land, constructed greenhouses and horticultural beds. This Fair was to be the grandest one yet and was successful in doing so. [7]
Structures that were built for the Fair include [7]:
-The Palace of Agriculture – Considered the largest building and captured Thomas Jefferson’s dream of an agrarian society. The building cost $525,491, over twenty-three acres and exhibited agriculture products from 15 countries and 42 states.
-The Palace of Education and Social Economy – Covered 8 acres and represented an educational enterprise. The building cot $365,421, containing live displays of actual classes from Kindergarten to University-level courses. Could learn calligraphy and braille, while other exhibits explored contemporary questions on housing, labor, and health.
-The Palace of Electricity and Machinery – This served to show that electricity was the lifeblood of the new century and just how much potential it had. The building cost $412,948 and also held the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Tower allowing people to send wireless messages to Chicago and Springfield.
-The Palace of Agriculture – Considered the largest building and captured Thomas Jefferson’s dream of an agrarian society. The building cost $525,491, over twenty-three acres and exhibited agriculture products from 15 countries and 42 states.
-The Palace of Education and Social Economy – Covered 8 acres and represented an educational enterprise. The building cot $365,421, containing live displays of actual classes from Kindergarten to University-level courses. Could learn calligraphy and braille, while other exhibits explored contemporary questions on housing, labor, and health.
-The Palace of Electricity and Machinery – This served to show that electricity was the lifeblood of the new century and just how much potential it had. The building cost $412,948 and also held the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Tower allowing people to send wireless messages to Chicago and Springfield.
The Palace of Machinery – This represented great advancements in technology and contained the power plant for the fair, providing all the lighting for concessions, exhibits, and the fair. The building cost $646,533 and generators, steam pumps, and other machinery was also displayed.
Festival Hall, The Cascades, and Colonnade of States – This was the crowning feature and most photographed structure, costing about $218,430. Inside was the world’s largest pipe organ and daily concerts were held. The colonnade, another $59,740, symbolized success, wisdom, and foresight of the Louisiana Purchase. The cascades symbolized the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and man’s control over nature.
Festival Hall, The Cascades, and Colonnade of States – This was the crowning feature and most photographed structure, costing about $218,430. Inside was the world’s largest pipe organ and daily concerts were held. The colonnade, another $59,740, symbolized success, wisdom, and foresight of the Louisiana Purchase. The cascades symbolized the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and man’s control over nature.
Palace of Fine Arts – The only surviving structure intended as a lasting memory is now the Saint Louis Art Museum. Paintings, engravings, sculptures, jewelry, and other fine art were displayed in this building that cost $1,014,000 due to its steel and stone material.
Other structures include the Palace of Forestry, Fish, and Game, the Palace of Horticulture, the Palace of Liberal Arts, Palace of
Other structures include the Palace of Forestry, Fish, and Game, the Palace of Horticulture, the Palace of Liberal Arts, Palace of
Manufactures, Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, Palace of Transportation, US Government Building, and the Palace of Varied Industries. The Pike was a mile-long of amusements and entertainment that challenged Victorian values. The Philippine Reservation designed to gain public support, was significant in the way it showcased Filipinos in hopes of introducing the social, commercial, and industrial capabilities of the Filipino culture in a 47 acre area.
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other significant achievements
The World’s Fair is one among many achievements in St. Louis that has revealed to the world what St. Louis is all about. Throughout its history the city has been “the center of the nation’s shoe manufacturing, the home of the world’s largest brewery, and some of the nation’s greatest industries have their principal offices in this humid, sedate city […] St. Louis has a dignity not to be found in Kansas city. It is more relaxed than Chicago. More polished than Omaha.” Busch Memorial Stadium is home to both the baseball Cardinals and football Rams. The Gateway Arch is America’s tallest national monument symbolizing the gateway to the west. Notable people include Carl Schurz, Thomas Hart Benton, and Joseph Pulitzer. Charles Lindbergh’s flight was backed by St. Louis money and this man instilled a welcoming spirit of friendship to the people that is present even today. [13]
[1] "Standing At The Crossroads – St. Louis Music History." Explore St. Louis. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. http://explorestlouis.com/media-page/news-releases-newsroom/releases/at-the-crossroads-st-louis-music-history/
[2] O'Neill, Tim. "A Look Back: Gaslight Square in St. Louis Burned Brightly but Briefly in the 1960's." Stltoday.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 23 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/look-back/a-look-back-gaslight-square-in-st-louis-burned-brightly/article_93b2d302-cd76-5f38-a9d1-2844d33d1aef.html
[3] Gaslight Square, Boyle & Olive Streets, St. Louis, Missouri, 194. Digital image. SCVIEW and Sons. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. http://scartists.com/index.phpage=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=237341&category_id=87&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=71&vmcchk=1&Itemid=71
[4] "Top Five St. Louis Signature Foods." Explore St Louis Top Five St Louis Signature Foods Comments. N.p., 02 May 2012. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. <http://explorestlouis.com/2012/05/02/top-five-st-louis-signature-foods/>.
[5] Gilbert, James. “Whose History Is It? The St. Louis World’s Fair and Historical Practices.” Whose Fair: Experience, Memory and the History of the Great St. Louis Exposition. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Vol. 10, No. 4, Booms, Busts, and the Gilded Age (October 2011), pp. 527-529 < http://www.jstor.org/stable/23045132>
[6] Ferris Wheel – St. Louis World Fair 1904. Digital Image. Bing.com. Web. 30 August 2014. < http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=st+louis+world+fair&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=77090352C2A0E60622ACE15698147E89634877C2&selectedIndex=7>
[7] "1904 World's Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward." 1904 World's Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward. Missouri Historical Society, n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2014. <http://mohistory.org/Fair/WF/HTML/Overview/>.
[8] Pharus-Map World’s Fair St. Louis. Digital Image. Bing.com Web. 30 August 2014. <https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=map+of+st+louis+world+fair&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=map+of+st+louis+world+fair&sc=1-23&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=6C0A46789FDB598F09B68839AAAB111A73DE2884&selectedIndex=0>
[9] "1904 World's Fair Virtual Tour - a Collection of Pictures from the 1904 Fair." 1904 World's Fair Virtual Tour - a Collection of Pictures from the 1904 Fair. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. http://www.crawforddirect.com/worldfairtour.htm
[10] Festival Hall and Cascades. Digital Image. Bing.com. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=st+louis+world+fair&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=B119F4D2AB4498E57C0940EBBDA468F9C3A7A1CB&selectedIndex=47
[11] Allen, Greg. "'Living Exhibits' at 1904 World's Fair Revisited." Digital Image. NPR. NPR, 31 May 2004. Web. 01 Sept. 2014. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1909651
[12] "Scott Joplin (c. 1868 – 1917)." Scott Joplin. Digital Image. The State Historical Society of Missouri, n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. <http://shs.umsystem.edu/historicmissourians/name/j/joplin/>
[13] “Meet Me in St. Louis.” American Bar Association Journal, Vol. 56, No. 7 (JULY 1970), pp. 602-608, 693-694. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25725179>
[14] “Charles A. Lindbergh.” Digital Image. Bing.com. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.