Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 148, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1904 — ST. LOUIS FAIR BUILDINGS. [ARTICLE]

ST. LOUIS FAIR BUILDINGS.

Fignr** About Them Which Show Their Immensity. The construction of the Louisiana Purchase exposition buildings at St. Louis required:astupeitlous quantity of mater rials. The fourteen main buildings used Up 76,000,000 feet of lumber, 5,100 window frames, 1,340 door frames, 1,000,000 square feet of glass in doors and windows, 340,000 square feet of metal and glass in skylights, 10,000,000 pounds of steel and iron, 5.500,000 square feet of roofing, 9,000,000 square feet of staff, 98,000,000 pounds of plaster of paris, 1,300,000 square feet of plastering; 35,000 pounds of hair for plaster, 1,000,000 pounds- of fiber for staff, 56,000 cubic feet of sand, 3,000,000 pounds of nails, 9,000,000 square feet of painting, 22,000,000 square feet of interior whitewashing, 5,000 pairs of door hinges, 5,000 locks and bolts, 70,000'feet of ropes, 3,400 pulleys and cleats and 1,880 metal ornaments. ‘ These figures show in round numbers just what”went into the largest structures at the fair, but the hundreds of smaller buildings and other enterprises in which building materials have been used more than double these totals, in some instances treble them. Thus the amount of lumber used altogether at the fair is estimated by some authorities at 350,000,000 square feet, board measure. The amount of glass is approximately pounds, or 10,000 tons; staff, about 26,000,000 pounds; painting, about 20,000,000 square feet; nails, 6,000,000 pounds, and whitewashing 50,000,000- square feet. Astonishing and bewildering as these

totals are, they are not-nearly so eloquent over their magnitude as a consideration of what might be done in other ways with such cyclopean blocks of materials -makes them. The roofing done qt the fair asc great enough to have been ample for 100,000 ordinary houses, and if laid out over a single area of land would cover about 160 acres. The glass would furnish windows for 10.000 houses, and out of the great quantity of staff used 6,000 complete houses of eight rooms each could be built. The quantity of paint used WoulS have been sufficient for 8,000 fairly jargS' houses, and 150,000 good-sized rooms could be cqjeimined with the whitewash consumed on all the buildings at the fair.