1904 New York City to St. Louis Louisiana Purchase A.A.A. Tour -- It Set the Stage for the Glidden Tours that Followed

View of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Glidden in Napier car, surrounded by spectators, at Albany, New York during the 1904 St. Louis Tour. The tour covered a route across five states from New York, New York to St. Louis, Missouri. Handwritten on back: "Story in Sept. '54, AF. Tour to St. Louis Fair reaches Albany in July. Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Glidden in their Napier in which they drove around the world. Tours--St. Louis Tour, 1904.

The Louisiana Purchase Tour was important, for it set the stage for the Glidden tours that followed. It began in NewYork City and ended in St. Louis, following a route that would be in part used again during the early Glidden events. It followed the main road leading through Albany  (could this be roughly the US 20?) , Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, South Bend, Springfield, Il, finally ending at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition ("Meet me in St. Louie..."). While only 16 cars started in NYC, the main caravan picked up cars along the way, so that some 108 cars paraded in St. Louis in early August, 1904. The success of this venture resulted in Mr. Glidden offering to donate a trophy "to decide the touring supremacy of the country...."

The affair highlighted a problem that was to plague Glidden tour events in the future. Namely, while this was supposedly to be a touring affair, it wasn't long before some of the participants thought of it as a race. During the later segments of the tour racing became most evident, and "road skirmishes are frequent every day." Speed triumphed over gentility, and the desire for drivers "to be first." This speeding was known as "scorching," a term I discussed in a previous post.

View of motorists, spectators and automobiles in front of the Hotel Jefferson at St. Louis, Missouri during the 1904 St. Louis Tour. The tour covered a route across five states from New York, New York to St. Louis, Missouri. Handwritten on back: "The 1904 tourists reach 12th St. and St. Charles Ave., St. Louis, where the Hotel Jefferson (left foreground) was their headquarters. Story in Sept. 1954 AF. Tours--St. Louis Tour, 1904.

View of motorists in car no. 60 during the 1904 St. Louis Tour. Spectators stand on sidewalk. The tour covered a route across five states from New York, New York to St. Louis, Missouri. Handwritten on back: "Story in Sept. 1954 AF. Tours--St. Louis Tour, 1904.

View of cars lined up in street at Albany, New York during the 1904 St. Louis Tour. The tour covered a route across five states from New York, New York to St. Louis, Missouri. Handwritten on back: "In Albany, Story in Sept. '54, AF. Tours--St. Louis Tour, 1904."

View of driver and passenger in mud-spattered 1905 Locomobile car during St. Louis tour. Onlookers stand nearby; sign on car reads: "St. Louis tour, 9, A.A.A." Stamped on back: "Lazarnick." Handwritten on back: "Locomobile, 1905."