The Truth Behind Saint Louis VP Fair Joseph Pulitzer had just founded the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the first telephone exchange opened at 415 Olive Street and Tony Fausts restaurant became the first building in St. Louis to have electric lights. On March 20th twenty prominent businessmen led by Charles Slayback, an influential St. Louis grain broker and ex-citizen of New Orleans met at the Lindell Hotel to discuss ways to promote the city of St. Louis and its local businesses. It seemed that interest in the annual Agricultural and Mechanical Fair was declining. The fair was a highly important event in St. Louis, attracting scores of visitors to the city on the river and bringing substantial profit to its merchants, hotels and amusement centers. Slayback and the small group of businessmen he assembled decided the time had come to give the Agricultural and Mechanical Fair and the City of St. Louis a major boost. Slayback proposed to his colleagues an annual event similar to Mardis Gras. He believed such an event would spark public interest and boost attendance in the October fair. Slaybacks brother Alonzo suggested the activities be organized by a group of the most civic-minded businessmen in St. Louis. He also envisioned a mysterious character similar to that of poet Thomas Moores Veiled Prophet of Khorassan. Unlike Moores trickster, St. Louis Veiled Prophet would be a benevolent character, traveling the world in search of a suitable location to share his good will. St. Louis would become his adopted city. A secret organization was formed called the Mysterious Order of the Veiled Prophet. The reason for secrecy was simple - the founders wanted to ensure the focus of the Orders good deeds would not be on any of its members but rather on the Organization as a whole. It was established that the festivities marking the Veiled Prophets appearance would take two forms - a night parade followed by a grand ball.On the evening of Tuesday October 8th as many as many as 50,000 onlookers lined the streets of St. Louis. The news of the Veiled Prophets arrival brought families from miles around. Spectators arrived in horse-drawn wagons; other took advantage of reduced fares for special trains to St. Louis. Some arrived by steamboats and many walked. Many were seen waving five and ten dollar bills, competing for the best viewing locations to catch a glimpse of the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan. And the spectacle they saw surpassed the wildest of their imaginations. Charles Slayback had contacted Mardis Gras officials and purchased seventeen floats for a sum of eight thousand dollars. With a burst of torchlight and sound of whistling torpedoes, crowds found themselves entranced in a land of fantasy. Horse-drawn floats bounced and creaked over the dark cobblestone streets that were lighted by torches. Floats carried monsters, beautiful maidens and heroes. The parade followed for one and a half miles. The final float emerged carrying the mysterious Veiled Prophet, holding his magic mirror that allowed him to view the past, present and future. Those along the parade route gazed goggle-eyed at this strange and beautiful spectacle. The second phase of the festivities followed at the Merchants Exchange Building at 8:00 p.m. One of the highlights of the evening was when the Prophet chose the belle of the ball, by selecting a young lady for the first dance. Sixteen year-old Susie Slayback was the first belle of the ball. Years later Susie Slayback Wellington Adams wrote the following account of the first ball. ...He descended from his lofty seat to the dance floor where he presented (me) with a pretty pearl necklace. (My) dress was white satin made with a quilted skirt studded with beads and trimmed in lace.Moving into the twentieth century the Veiled Prophet celebration underwent numerous changes. In 1894 a new tradition began with the crowning of the Queen of Love and Beauty. The first crown was modeled after Queen Victorias crown. Early queens carried bouquets of American Beauty roses, but beginning in 1924, rare orchids were provided by the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Newspapers did not publicly announce the names of queens until 1885. In 1902, the Veiled Prophet decreed that queens should not marry nor announce their engagement during their reign. Much has changed since the first parade and Ball in 1878, but the basic premise for the Veiled Prophet Organization remains the same - to serve and promote the St. Louis Community.veiledprophet.org/history-2 Veiled Prophet AKA KKK know your history...
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 12:47:37 +0000
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