For much of 1904, St. Louis was the center of the universe. It was the site of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, one of the most successful World’s Fairs ever held. It also was host city for the third modern Olympic Games. The fair marked the centennial of U.S. acquisition of the vast Louisiana Territory from France and the Lewis and Clark Expedition that explored it. The ice cream cone debuted at the fair, and so did two commemorative gold dollars – one depicting President Thomas Jefferson, who oversaw the purchase and dispatched the expedition, the other honoring President William McKinley, who sanctioned the fair.

In other news of 1904:

• President Theodore Roosevelt named a seven-man commission to oversee construction of the Panama Canal.
• The Republicans nominated Roosevelt to run for a new four-year term. The Democrats chose little known New York judge Alton B. Parker, virtually assuring Roosevelt’s victory.
• Japan and Russia went to war in a dispute over their rival claims to Manchuria and Korea. Japan prevailed with relative ease.
• Much of downtown Toronto was destroyed by fire. Fire also wiped out 75 city blocks in Baltimore.
• The excursion steamboat PS General Slocum caught fire and sank in New York City’s East River while carrying 1,342 German-American passengers to a church picnic. More than 1,000 died – the  greatest loss of life in any New York tragedy prior to 9/11.
• The first New York City subway opened and 350,000 people took rides along the 9.1-mile route.
• A woman was arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on 5th Avenue in New York.
• Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly premiered in Milan.
• Boston starting pitchers threw 148 complete games – an American League record.
• New York’s first major New Year's Eve celebration welcomed 1905 in Longacre Square, known only later as Times Square.

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