
The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis - Petiver
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/largest-human-zoo-world-history
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sillysaurusx
_The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis is remembered by some as the high-water
mark of the city’s history—the moment when all the world was assembled in
tribute to the city’s greatness, the moment at the crest of the rise, before
the beginning of the long decline._

Suppose SF were at the beginning of a long decline. What would the signs be,
specifically?

It seems an interesting question for a few reasons. SF is one of the most
influential cities in the world; the question generalizes to SV rather than
SF; and COVID has forced a lot of non-remote ideas to suddenly become remote
(e.g. YC batches).

If you were teleported back to 1904 and viewed St Louis in all its glory, what
signs would you see that would make you go "This place will become much less
relevant within a couple generations"? Are those signs applicable to today's
cities? (They may not be, and perhaps likely aren't – but it seems worth
studying.)

I grew up in the St Louis area. The intro of this article was shocking,
because the world now certainly wouldn't assemble in tribute to the greatness
of St Louis. It makes you wonder: which other powerful cities soon won't be?
Regions? Institutions? Why – and are there useful correlations between the
categories?

~~~
jws
It wasn't sudden, and was already in progress by 1904, but St. Louis in the
1850s was the second largest port in the United States after New York. As
railroads became a thing they favored Chicago, possibly because St. Louis
politicians were protecting the river boat industry.

At the dawn of railroads St. Louis was three times the size of Chicago, by
1904 it was reversed.

␄

Caveat: I didn't vet those numbers too closely and in the case of St. Louis it
matters. St. Louis is one of several US cities whose urban centers are
politically separate entities from their surrounding suburbs. So when you see
a list of "Cities with the highest X rate!" and X is correlated with
population density then St. Louis and Baltimore will usually be high on the
list.)

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burmer
And don't forget about the 1904 Olympics in St Louis as well. Easily as
strange as the expo: [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1904-olympic-
mara...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1904-olympic-marathon-may-
have-been-the-strangest-ever-14910747/)

~~~
brownbat
The course organizer believed in intentional dehydration, so there was no
water until the 11 mile mark, with some trainers instead using alcohol when
runners became thirsty. It was 90 degrees in the shade.

The winner was periodically dosed with strychnine mixed in brandy, and
suffered hallucinations for the last 10 miles of the race, was carried over
the finish line, and would have died if doctors didn't immediately treat him.

Another competitor hadn't eaten in 40 hours, so he stopped at an orchard and
ate some apples that turned out to be rotten and gave him incredible stomach
pains, so he had to lie down.

Another competitor almost died from the dust clouds kicked up by the cars
driving ahead and behind the participants.

Another competitor was chased off the race by aggressive dogs.

Just so many crazy things all at once.

There's a fantastic episode from The Memory Palace about the race:

[https://thememorypalace.us/2010/02/episode-26-citius-
altius-...](https://thememorypalace.us/2010/02/episode-26-citius-altius-
fortius-horrendius/)

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adamc
Disturbing. As it should be.

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fallingfrog
The last paragraph is the best;

”Come spend a day enjoying yourselves, the fair beckoned; lay down your
placards and your pistols, and take up your rightful place in the front rank
of civilization and the “march of progress.” The fair exhibits were designed
to domesticate the restive immigrant workers of St. Louis by turning them into
white people.“

