Texas. World's Fair Commission, 1904.

Celebrating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States Universal Exposition of 1904, also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition or St. Louis World's Fair, covered two square miles of St. Louis, Missouri, and included over 200 buildings.

Its enormous size and cost of $19.6 million were double that of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago ten years earlier. The event aspired to demonstrate the progress of the industrialization of Western nations, primarily technological advancement.

Led by geologist William B. Phillips, the University of Texas Mineral Survey, established in 1901, contributed heavily to the Texas exhibit for the fair. The state's display included a Texas Forestry exhibit, later installed at the University of Texas.

Sources:

Flawn, Peter Tyrell. "Geology in the State Government of Texas." Austin: Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, 1965.

"Progress made visible: Louisiana Purchase exposition, St. Louis, 1904." Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library. Accessed March 10, 2011.

"Texas Forestry Exhibit at St. Louis." The University of Texas Record, Volume 6. Austin: University of Texas, 1906.