ST. LOUIS WORLD’S FAIR · A RECONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS
Walk through the 1904 World’s Fair as it is rebuilt from maps, photographs and the words of people who were there.
Explore the fair in 3DFree to explore in your browser. An early model, growing one building at a time.
THE PLACE
From April 30 to December 1, 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition transformed part of St. Louis into a landscape of exhibition palaces, waterways, gardens and amusements. Nations, states and industries gathered to display their visions of the world.
The fair also promoted racist and colonial ideas and put people on display. Understanding it means looking beyond the grand architecture to the experiences of those who built, visited and were displayed at the fair.
Historical background · Missouri History MuseumTHE RECONSTRUCTION JOURNAL
The whole grounds first. Then area by area, building by building, from simple shapes to the details we can find in the archives.
Working out how the back of Festival Hall meets the terraces, and comparing plans and photographs to check the heights of the fountain and the ground around it.
Books from the time helped us adjust the width of the hall and its dome. We’ve added arched windows, more detail to the outer walls and glass roof panels. Sculpture is still to come, and sources disagree about the building’s height.
The Main Cascade now widens as it descends, following widths described in old guides. We’ve adjusted the banks, stairs and connection to the Grand Basin. We’re still checking how far the ground drops along the way.
Columns now stand out farther from the walls of the Palace of Electricity, with more detail in its balconies and roofs. We’re still checking its overall size: the early plan and figures in books don’t quite agree.
HOW THIS IS BEING MADE
This is an independent project, made through an ongoing collaboration between a human creator and OpenAI’s Codex. AI helps research the archives, write the software and construct the 3D models. Historical maps, photographs, plans and published accounts guide the work.
We build the models by interpreting those records. Comparing sources and looking closely at the models helps us catch mistakes, but there is still plenty we don’t know. Most of the fair is made up of simple building shapes for now; the central buildings have begun to gain more detail.
Inside the explorer, select a building to see its sources, what is still a best guess and what we’ll check next. When sources disagree or a detail is missing, we explain that too.
Walk, fly, and inspect the evidenceTHE GATES ARE OPEN
There is already a whole fair to wander.
There is still a great deal to discover.