The Pike

The Pike was a wide  mile-long span of the Fair that  showcased all sorts of amusements and activities.

Description

Though the major theme of the 1904  St. Louis World's Fair was one of education, the Pike's exhibits were a mixed bag of attractions- from the elaborate to the simple,  that focused on not only informing the average fairgoer, but thrilling, scaring, and  humoring them with elaborate and sometimes eyebrow-raising amusements.

These rides, attractions and concessions were  more varied, elaborate and  costly (seven to eight million dollars),  than any previous Exposition.  Some called it a headquarters for fun and entertainment, while others labeled  it an over-elaborate carnival and a den of iniquity.

The Pike wasn't actually  a broad street that ran a mile long, it did  turn south at the two ends, which created  wider entrances to handle the enormous evening mobs. It was designed with 10 different  styles of paving and a variety of street fixtures.

The expression- `Coming down the Pike,'  originated from this area of the  Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Pike-goers could visit  Constantinople, Cairo or even the North Pole; while in the same day   take in a Paris fashion show,  visit Blarney Castle or the Tyrolean Alps.  One could experience the world's `Creation,' or `Hereafter,' or ride a burro or camel. Visitors could see elephants sliding down chutes,  witness an epic  naval battle or see forever atop the largest Observation Wheel ever built.  A reenactment of the Galveston Flood could be viewed, or  a visit to Jerusalem.

Concessionaires and barkers, armed  with  megaphones  lined the Pike, competing with blaring brass  bands for the fairgoer's  attention.  In the  evening,  with the palaces closing at dusk,  the Pike was always crowded and attractions such as belly-dancing was quite popular.

Frederick Remington's statue "Cowboys Off the Trail" (also entitled- "Cowboys Shooting Up A Western Town,"),   greeted fairgoers as they walked into the  Exposition's eastern  entrance. There they could witness over fifty  attractions.

Buildings

• American Pop Corn
• Ancient Rome
• Barrios Diamond Palace
• Battle Abbey
• Bohemia Cafe
• Camera Obscura
• Streets of Cario
• Creation
• Cummins Wild West
• Chinese Village
• Constantinople
• Cliff Dwellers
• Circle Swing
• Cycle Circle
• Deep Sea Divers
• Esquimaux Village
• Fairy Floss
• Fair Japan
• Glass Weavers
• Golden Chariots
• Galveston Flood
• Hereafter
• Hagenbeck's Trained Animals
• Hunitng in the Ozarks
• Hales Fire Fighting Exhibit
• Helter Skelter
• Infant Incubators
• International Doll Exhibit
• Irish International Exhibit
• Jim Key
• Mills Edisonia Spectatorium
• Mysterious Asia
• Moorish Palace
• Magic Whirlpool
• Malto Grape Company (Pavillion)
• Nana
• Boynton's Naval Exhibit
• Ostrich Farm
• Old Plantation
• On the Bowery
• Old St Louis
• Palace of Dreams
• Paris
• Palais du Costume
• Russian Village
• Siberian Railway
• Siberian Restaurant
• Statisticum
• Streets of Seville
• Temple of Mirth
• Temple of Palmistry
• Thompson Scenic Railway
• Tyrolean Alps
• Under and Over the Sea
• Welch Grape Juice Company
• Water Chutes

After the Fair

Plans were made to make  The Pike permanent after the  Exposition-  as well as adding a beach  and a stadium, but  Washington University cancelled them.