1904 – Irish Village, St. Louis World’s Fair

The Irish Village was a very popular part of the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair. Opened on May 3, it cost 25¢ adult admission (children 15¢, Industrial Exhibit 15¢). Built by the Irish Industrial Exhibition, it served as both Pike concession and the official Irish pavilion, with exhibits displaying industry, art, and literature of Ireland.

The architecture was ecletic – designed to reflect Ireland’s array of historial buildings.

• A scaled verions of Old Irish House of Parliament served as a large restaurant (capacity of 2,000), and as the fairgrounds entrance to the village
• St. Lawrence’s Gate at Drogheda was the entrance from the Pike.
• Cormac’s Chapel on the Rock of Cashel
• Blarney Castle was a theater for free performances – was heated and the largest theater on the fairgrounds, seated 1,800
• Village exhibits/shops featured fine exhibition of Irish linen, laces, and carpets
• McKinlay Cottage, home of late President McKinley’s ancestors, was reproduced

The Irish Village at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair also reproduced Blarney & Donegal Castles