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