St. Louis Autumnal Festival Association

The first ballot showed Chicago with a large lead over New York City, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C., but short of a majority.

Businessmen Samuel M. Kennard, president, and Frank Gaiennie, secretary, thereupon organized a mass meeting for the purpose of making the city's autumn carnivals of 1891 through 1893 "of unrivaled splendor.

"[3][4] Kennard told an enthusiastic throng gathered in Exposition Entertainment Hall on May 11, 1891, that the meeting had for "its one object the advancement of St. Louis and the commercial and manufacturing position she is sure to occupy in the future.

[3][5]< Frank Gaiennie, the chairman of the program committee, said:[5] Let St. Louis be known as she deserves to be known at home and abroad, and during the usual forty days of our autumnal activities, let her blossom as the rose, and the thousands of visitors to our grand country and the Columbian Fair [in Chicago] will be so pleased with Missouri's exhibit there that, as a matter of course, they will feel an instinctive inclination to come to the very fountain head and visit the Commonwealth of Missouri, rich in agricultural products, rich in coal, iron and other minerals, the fifth state in population and, above all, containing the fifth city in the Union — St. Louis — where imposing pageantries, brilliant civic displays, illuminations of gas and electric light will dazzle the eye of the beholders and leave an impression which will never be forgotten.

[Edward] Wilkerson, head of the illumination committee, outlined proposed colorful electric lighting displays and a "colossal reproduction of the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World," which had been dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886.

"At this juncture," the Globe-Democrat reported, "the electric lights were suddenly darkened in the hall and a curtain raised at the back of the stage displaying a beautiful illustration of the proposed effect .

"[5] Wilkerson asked the question: "Shall we proceed in a regular and increasing blaze of glory or sit supinely by and rest under the shadow of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago?"

]"[5] Henry J. Meyer of the Committee on Hotels reported that a joint meeting with the Merchants' Exchange and the Mercantile Club had decided that "a movement be inaugurated to raise a bonus of $100,000, which shall be given to any individual, company or corporation who will build a first-class, fire-proof hotel, occupying at least a half square of ground, situated in or near the business center of the city and containing not less than 500 rooms.

"[5] During the campaign, "Advertisements were published in all parts of the United States and in many foreign countries, elaborate illustrated articles were placed in the leading magazines and a weekly letter on the advantages of St. Louis was sent to upwards of 500 Southern and Western journals.

The monument to Ulysses S. Grant in Washington Square Park was "surrounded by an illuminated allegorical arch, of which a figure of peace" was the keystone.