1903 Woodward Map of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri

This is an appealing 1903 ground plan or map of the Louisiana Purchase exposition of the St. Louis World’s Fair held in St. Louis, Missouri. The map, oriented with north at the bottom, covers the exposition grounds from Forest Park to Pennsylvania Avenue, naming all important buildings, walks, transportation lines, markets, landscape, and the various pavilions established for manufacturing, machinery, transportation, liberal arts, mines and metallurgy, fine arts, etc. A list below the title in the top right quadrant includes the dimensions of the various halls and buildings. An index of the locations on the map is also included along the right margin.

The Louisiana Purchase exposition, spanning 1240 acres and containing over 1500 buildings, was the largest World Fair to date. Over 50 countries and 44 U.S. States participated. The grounds, as shown here, were designed by George Kessler, one of the most influential architects and city planners of his time. The exhibits a human 'zoo' displaying indigenous peoples form newly acquired U.S. territories such as Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. It is also claimed that such American classics as the hamburger, the hot dog, the waffle style ice cream cone, and Dr. Pepper were first popularized here.

This map was copyrighted in 1903 by The J. N. Matthews Company., The Matthews Northrup Works, buffalo, NY. Published by Woodward and Tiernan Printed Company of St. Louis.