Details

Title: The World Book: Organized Knowledge in Story and Picture
Volumes: 10
Language: English
Publisher: Hanson-Roach-Fowler Company
Year: 1919
Pages: 6528

This set isn't quite the first-edition of the World Book encyclopedia - that appeared two years earlier in 1917 in eight volumes. My set is the 1919 edition in ten volumes - World Book has revised itself, with a few exceptions, annually. That continues today: World Book is one of the last encyclopedias in the world that is still producing a print edition. According to the preface, World Book's scope includes "all that is most interesting, illuminating and useful,"including recent innovations in science, "every subject of instruction in the elementary and high schools,"as well as articles on education aimed at teachers and parents (iii). It was very important to the editors that a wide-range of readers, from small children to educated adults, could use the encyclopedia: "As a rule encyclopedias are apt to be quite formal and technical. A faithful effort has been made in The World Book to avoid this common defect. Every-day, simple language is used, and technical terms are employed very sparingly" (iii). One of the main features of the World Book compared to other concurrent encyclopedias is the amount of pictures; this set includes over 5000 specially commissioned illustrations, diagrams, photographs, and maps.

My copy of this encyclopedia has seen better days - mouse-chewed corners, stains on the covers - but it is beautiful. Each volume has decorated endpapers and marbled page edges. The black-and-white illustrations are detailed and very clear. There are a limited number of color plates scattered throughout. The spine of each volume gives both the range of letters covered as well as the page numbers (the entire set uses sequential page numbering, so volume 8, for instance, contains pages 4609 to 5248). The last hundred pages of the final volume contain an alphabetical index, for assistance in finding information on topics that do not get their own entry or which may be listed under a different name.

Sample Entries

For ease of comparison, I look up the same two topics in each reference work I list: "umbrella" and "Saint Louis." The rather short entry on "umbrella" can be found in volume 10, on page 5937:

UMBRELLA. Though to-day this term is used almost exclusively to mean a protector against the rain, while a sunshade is called a parasol, the umbrella was originally a sunshade, and the name is from a Latin word meaning little shadow. These protectors had their origin in Oriental countries, where the sun was hot and bright; the sculptures of ancient Egypt and Assyria show slaves bearing umbrellas over the heads of their kings. Even to-day in those same countries the umbrella is to some extent regarded as a symbol of rank.

At the time of this encyclopedia's publication, Saint Louis was a very important city, so it receives a lot more text than it would today. The entry on Saint Louis ranges from page 5158 to 5162 in volume 8 of the encyclopedia, and is followed by a set of review questions intended to aid students in report writing and information retention.

SAINT LOUIS, Mo., the largest city in the vast territory included in the Louisiana Purchase (which see), and the fourth city in the United States in population and in manufacturing. In 1910 it had a population of 687,029; according to a Federal estimate this had increased to 757,309 in 1916. Germans are most numerous in the foreign element.

General Description. Saint Louis is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River, about twenty miles below the point where it receives the waters of the Missouri. Chicago is about 280 miles northeast, and Kansas City is about the same distance northwest. New Orleans is 709 miles south, and Saint Paul is 599 miles north. Originally the city was built on the high slope rising from the river, but this congested section is now almost wholly commercial, being occupied by wholesale, jobbing and manufacturing houses; the dwellings still remaining have been converted into tenements. An old brick house in this locality of narrow streets and time-worn buildings bears a bronze tablet which tells the passer-by that Eugene Field, the children's poet, was born there in 1850, and near by is the house in which Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States, was married to Julia Dent in 1848.

On Walnut Street, near the river, stands the oldest church in the city, familiarly called the Old Cathedral; it is the most notable relic of the French period of the history of Saint Louis. On the crest of this slope stands one of the city's most interesting landmarks, the old courthouse, built in 1839, which was a slave market before the War of Secession. It is built in the form of a Greek cross and contains four large paintings by Wimar and figures representing Law, Commerce, Justice and Liberty.

The newer and greater business district adjoins this old one on the west, and farther on lie fine residential districts, which extend into suburbs of rare beauty. The tendency of the city is to grow westward, and the greater number of the fine residential sections are on the farther West Side; there are, however, some magnificent homes on the North and South sides. More than sixty-one square miles are included in the city's area.

Parks, Homes and Boulevards. Forest Park, the largest of the city's recreation grounds, is an immense tract (1,400 acres) of great natural beauty on which about $3,000,000 has been expended in drives, lakes and landscape gardening. Here in 1904 the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held. The park contains the Art Museum, the Jefferson Memorial Building, and a "zoo;" its golf links are second to non in the United States. Tower Grove Park, on the South Side, has beautiful drives, and statues of Columbus, Humboldt and Shakespeare. Near the statue of Shakespeare are two trees which were planted by the English actresses, Adelaide Neilson and Olga Nethersole, as tributes to their illustrious countryman. O'Fallon Park, on the North Side, has one of the largest artificial swimming pools in the United States. These three parks, with Carondelet Park, on the extreme South Side, are on a chain of fine boulevards.

The Missouri Botanical Garden, better known as Shaw's Garden, ranks first in the United States and next to the Kew Gardens, in London, as an educational botanical garden. Its library contains more than 18,500 books, 22,000 pamphlets and a considerable number of manuscript volumes. The Arboretum contains specimens of trees from various parts of the world, and an extensive collection of fruit trees and plants is housed in the Fruiticetum. This garden and Tower Grove Park were the gifts of Henry Shaw, a Saint Louis citizen, who was deeply interested in plants; his burial place in the garden is marked by an imposing sarcophagus. Lafayette, Lyon and Compton Hill Reservoir parks are among the smaller recreation spots and playgrounds. In some one of the parks a concert may be heard any night during the warm season, as Saint Louis is a music-loving community. Bellefontaine and Calvary are the largest and most beautiful of the city's cemeteries; the latter is the burial place of General William Tecumseh Sherman.

No city in the entire Union surpasses Saint Louis in the beauty of its exclusive residential districts, called "places;" the magnificent homes and spacious grounds of these sections are a tribute to the finest skill of the architect and the landscape gardener. Westmoreland, Portland, Kingsbury and Vandeventer are among the most noted of the "places," but Lindell Terrace and Longfellow, Hawthorne, Lindell and Forsyth boulevards rival them in beauty. The huge apartment buildings common to most large cities are notably scarce in Saint Louis, detached houses and duplex buildings being the rule.

Reference to the residential parts of Saint Louis can scarcely be made without including the handsome estates and beautiful suburbs adjoining the city on the west, which contain the homes of some of the financiers of the city; besides these, there are attractive suburbs northwest and southwest where large numbers of city workers live. East Saint Louis (Ill.), the "little sister" city, is on the opposite bank of the river. Twelve miles south of Saint Louis is Jefferson Barracks, a United States military post. At the Chain of Rocks, north of the city and on the river, the largest sand filtration plant in the United States was opened in 1915.

Buildings. Among prominent public buildings are the city hall, an imposing $2,000,000 structure in the center of Washington Park; the new municipal building, the Federal building, the main post office, opposite Union Station (the downtown branch being in the Federal building), and the Coliseum, with a seating capacity of 15,000. The new Saint Louis Cathedral, on Lindell Boulevard, is by far the most imposing religious structure; several years will be required to finish the interior marbles and mosaics, and when completed the building will have cost $3,000,000. Saint John's Methodist Episcopal, Pilgrim Congregational, First Christian Science, Second Baptist and Second Presbyterian churches and the Jewish Temple are among the modern handsome churches of the city. Christ Church (Episcopal Cathedral) is an artistic old structure containing some of the finest stone carvings in the United States. Saints Peter and Paul Church is the oldest German Roman Catholic church in the city; it was built in 1848.

The Railway Exchange Building, which covers an entire square, is one of the largest office buildings in the world. Union Trust, Frisco, Century, Missouri-Lincoln Trust, Wright and Fullerton buildings, and those of the Bank of Commerce, Third National and Boatmen's banks are among the conspicuous business structures. The hotels of Saint Louis are sufficient in number and equipment to permit the city to act as host to the largest conventions; the best known are the Stadtler, Jefferson, Planters, Warwick, Maryland, Marquette, Terminal, American and Washington. Saint Louis, University, Racquet, Liederkranz, Columbian, Mercantile and Missouri Athletic are the principal clubs of the city, the last two being in the downtown section. The Women's Club and the Wednesday Club (women's) own their respective handsome quarters. Log Cabin, Saint Louis, Glen Echo, Florissant, Belle Rive and Sunset Inn are the prominent country clubs.

Education. The public school system of Saint Louis is not excelled by any in the Union, and it is noted for its modern, artistic buildings. There are five high schools for white children and a high school and a normal school for colored pupils. The first permanent kindergarten in connection with the public schools, and the first public kindergarten training school for teachers, were established here in 1873 by W. T. Harris, superintendent of public schools, who later became United States Commissioner of Education. Foremost among the institutions for advanced education is Washington University (founded in 1853 as Eliot Seminary), which includes Smith's Academy and Mary Institute (for girls), and has schools of fine arts, law, social economy and manual training. Saint Louis University was founded in 1829 by the Jesuits, and is the foremost school of this Order in the United States; the Christian Brothers' College, David Ranken School of Mechanic Trades, Kenrick Seminary (Roman Catholic~ and Concordia Theological Seminary (Lutheran) are all schools for the higher education of men. Forest Park University, Visitation Academy, Sacred Heart Convent, Loretto Academy and Ursuline Convent are devoted to the education of young women exclusively. The city also has the Missouri School for the Blind, the Saint Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons and a number of law and medical schools. Besides the handsome new public library, which contains more than 415,000 volumes and toward which Andrew Carnegie contributed $1,000,000, there are the Mercantile Library and the libraries of the Missouri Historical Society (housed in the Jefferson Memorial Building), of the Academy of Science and the Medical Society.

Benevolent Institutions. Public charity is provided by the city dispensary, an insane asylum, a poorhouse and a municipal lodging house, and by the industrial school, a reform school for boys and girls. A juvenile court was established in 1903. Barnes Hospital, opened in 1915, is one of the largest and best-equipped institutions of its kind in the United States; it is modeled after the noted Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Saint John's, Saint Luke's, Saint Anthony's, Jewish and Saint Ann's Maternity hospitals are the best known of a number of modern, excellently-equipped institutions. Saint Vincent's Asylum, in the vicinity, has a wide reputation for the skilled treatment of the insane.

Commerce. Through its central location and exceptional shipping facilities, Saint Louis has become a foremost commercial center in the greatest agricultural valley in the world. Before the Eads Bridge was built in 1869-1874 (see subhead under Eads, James Buchanan), the Mississippi River was the most important factor in the commercial life of the city, and though the growth of railroad construction has caused a decline in water commerce, there is still a considerable trade with cities on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Communication with all parts of the country and with Canada and Mexico is afforded by the following railway lines with their connections: the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago & Alton; Chicago & Eastern Illinois; Chicago, Peoria & Saint Louis; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & Saint Louis; Columbia & Waterloo; Frisco Lines; Illinois Central; Louisville & Nashville; Louisville, Henderson & Saint Louis; Missouri, Kansas & Texas; Missouri Pacific; Mobile & Ohio; Pennsylvania Lines; Saint Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern; Toledo, Saint Louis & Western; and Wabash. All railroad trains "back in" to the colossal Union Station, one of the largest unified passenger and freight terminals in the world, which, with its thirty-two tracks, covers eleven acres; trains from the East enter the city over the Eads' and Merchants' bridges. Electric lines communicate with adjacent cities and towns, and the McKinley interurban electric railway, which operates between cities and towns in Illinois, enters Saint Louis over the McKinley Bridge. The Municipal Bridge is in course of erection.

Industry and Manufacture. Saint Louis began its existence as a fur-trading post, and though it has attained a foremost rank in other branches of industry, it has always nurtured the first shoot of its commercial tree, and now is one of the greatest primary fur markets in the world and one of the largest fur-sale markets in the Union. The fur sale held here in January, 1917, was the largest in the history of the United States. The city has one of the greatest horse and mule markets in the world, and an equally important tobacco market. West of New York there is no greater distributing point for dry goods and shoes, and the city holds high rank as a wool and interior cotton market.

Although it is preëminently a distributing and commercial point, it ranks fourth in the United States as a manufacturing center. Boots and shoes are now the leading manufactured products, having displaced tobacco products, which ranks second. One of the largest breweries in the world is located here; its storage capacity is enormous, and its liquors are known in every country. So immense is the business of the great woodenware and hardware houses that private railway tracks are necessary for the handling of their shipments. Saint Louis is noted for its extensive manufacture of railway and street cars, clothing, furniture, baking powder, soap and candles, and the output of its flour mills and gristmills, packing houses, foundries and machine shops is also important.

History. The Saint Louis of to-day is the outgrowth of the fur-trading post established on this site by Auguste Chouteau in 1764. In the same year Pierre Laclede Ligueste, his stepfather, formed a settlement here which was first called Laclede's Village, but which soon after was renamed in honor of Louis IX of France. In 1770 France ceded all of its territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain, and Saint Louis became the capital of Upper Louisiana. One memorable day in April, 1803, the village floated three flags, when Louisiana Territory, which had been transferred by Spain to France, was transferred by France to the United States. The place grew steadily in population and importance, and in 1809 the town was incorporated. The first steamboat to visit the city was the Pike, in 1815. In 1819 the western branch of the American Fur Company was established here by John Jacob Astor. About this time large numbers of settlers were coming from Virginia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, and in 1822 a city charter was granted. The year 1849 is memorable for an epidemic of cholera which caused the death of 4,000 people and for a fire which destroyed property valued at several million dollars. During the following ten years the growth of the city was marvelous.

The first railroad (the Missouri Pacific) was constructed from Saint Louis in 1854. The first ironclad gunboats of the United States were built here by Captain James B. Eads in 1861. Under the Scheme and Charter, adopted in 1876, the city became independent of county government and taxation. Saint Louis has been repeatedly visited by fire, flood and epidemic, but the greatest calamity in its later history was a tornado, in 1896; it lasted less than twenty minutes, but in that brief time destroyed several hundred lives and swept away $10,000,000 worth of property. The great fair held in 1904 commemorated the acquisition of Louisiana Territory by the United States. In 1914 a great historical pageant was given in Forest Park, and was attended by more than 100,000 people. The spectacular parade and ball of the Veiled Prophet, which have been held annually in October since 1878, attract large numbers of visitors to the city.

J.D.L.

Consult Spencer's Story of Old Saint Louis; Stephens' Saint Louis, the Fourth City.