Trans-Mississippi Exposition
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The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was a world's fair held in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha from June 1 to November 1 of 1898. Its goal was to showcase the development of the entire West, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast. The Indian Congress was held concurrently.
[edit] About
The Expo featured ornate grounds that were created to highlight the economic, cultural and artistic achievements of the individuals who lived in the Midwest. All of the buildings, which housed over 5000 exhibits, were built as temporary structures. The entire event was presided over by Omaha banker Gurdon Wattles, who was an influential civic leader.
[edit] Commemoration
The Post Office Department issued a series of nine postage stamps to mark the Exposition, each depicting a Western scene. Now known as the Trans-Mississippi Issue and considered among the finest stamps produced by the US, they are highly prized by collectors; a complete unused set is worth about US$5,000.
A monument to the exposition was placed in Omaha's Kountze Park, the former site of the exposition, during a Centennial celebration of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in 1998.
[edit] See also
 | This article uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Trans-Mississippi_Exposition. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
