The Sentinel=record., 1911-09-24


 blaming together by moonlight. A rumor generally credited is to the effect that the Aero Club officials will lanyhow- notwithstanding the hoodoo "23" which is the date of the Taft visit to St. Louis-makesa an effort to lraise the President in a biplane.
 The park at which the free meet will be held is Playground, an oblong lplain whose east end faces Grand avenue and whose south side faces Natural Bridge road. St. Louis. has four parks larger than Playground These include gorest Park, having lt371 acres. where Curtiss and others made unsuccessful attempts to fly during the St. Louis Centennial ceie- bration two years ago. But Fair lground is considered particularly it- ting for flights, because, according to laviation experts. it is one of the fin est natural aviation fields in Amer llca. Kinloch field. the Aero Clubs regular aviation ground, was. after the successful meet there last 0Cto- Iber, pronounced by aviators the fin- lest field they ever had aseended from, but is several miles from the lefty, while Fairground is in the city. IThe accessibility of Fairground may be judged by residents of other cities from it's proximity to the baseball lgrounds of the big leagues. It ad joins League Park, where the Cardi nals play. and is three short blocks north of Sportsman's Park. the home of the Browns.
 This field has been the scene O many notabe events and has been lvisited by world-famous men. Its Imost distinguished European visitor was the ate King Edward VII, then Prince Albert of Wales. Surrounded by 10000 persons, the Prince of lWales and the Duke of Newcastle lwere entertained in 1860 on this field, which linen was known as the Fair lGrounds " The occasion of that Iroyal visit was the St. Louis Fair. an Iannual event on these grounds as early as 1856. At the outbreak or the Civil War, shortly after the de- Iparture of the Prince and the Duke this field was pressed into army ser l vice. and became known as Benton Barracks.
 Sportsmen remember the part as the site of the Fair Grounds race |track, where each spring for many year meets were held by the ST. Louis Jockey Club Racing at the Fair Grounds condHued until the State Legislature stopped bookmak ling.
 Street ilumnations and festivities became a part of Fair Week in 1870 and the Yelled Prophet made his de but in 1878. A downtown industrial exposition. established in the early eighties partially ecipsed the Fair, but fine two institutions existed sim ultaneously for a score of years, the fair, with it's big agricultural dis plays. catering especially to farmers, and the exposition, with its fine in dustrial exhibits, interesting particu larly county, merchants. Neither as soclation attempted to "show" In tnn4 f{l,c st ouir XNsnrtasc Eafr year) or any year thereafter. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, with 1 its exhibits from virtually every country on earth, totally eclipsed both f these associations which heretofore had amply satisfied not l lenfy St. Louisians but visitors from radius of hundreds of miles. The exposition building and its compan ion building, the old Coliseum, where , the Democratic National Convention of 1904 was held, were razed about three years ago to make room for the new Public Library building, and the Fair Grounds would have been cut into lots except for the city's timely faction.
 But the Worlds Fair was not big enough to obscure the Vefed Pro- phet. who, with his floats. has ap- pearea on the streets every October since his first appearance thirty three years ago, and whose thirty fourth annual pageant and ball, Oe- tober 3, will be the most brilliant o' his long reign. The pageant. alter passing through downtown through fares. will disband at the new Coll scum. where the Prophet will ho d hfs ball the cfty's most gorgeous annual function, and at 1t crown his lqueen.
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