The plot set-up for it is the return of cowboy Will Parker from an excursion to the city of the same name.
The song describes the wonders of the city and its entertainments (from the viewpoint of a country bumpkin), all reprising with the concept that the conditions (in 1906) represent the ultimate in progress, with little more expected.
For the 1955 motion picture, a few lyrics about a burlesque stripteaser had to undergo minor changes to pass film censorship.
In the original Broadway musical, Will sings: I could swear that she was padded from her shoulder to her heel.
A major seven-story building at the time was The Jones Store at 12th and Main which took up an entire block and was 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2).