April 22, 1904
The castings for Vulcan, the largest cast iron statue in the world, arrived in St. Louis on April 22, 1904, for the 1904 World’s Fair. The statue was cast in Birmingham and then shipped to Missouri to be assembled and put on display. After the expo ended, the statue was dismantled and returned to its hometown. After Vulcan spent about three decades at the Alabama State Fairgrounds, the statue was moved to a pedestal built on Red Mountain and Vulcan Park was dedicated in May 1939.
Read more at Bhamwiki.
Panorama of the World’s Fair, St. Louis, 1904. (George W. Melville, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904-1905. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Sculptor Giuseppe Moretti, center, and a group of workmen pose before the lower right leg of the statue of Vulcan in 1904, the year it was displayed at the St. Louis World’s Fair. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)
Colossal iron statue of Vulcan, in the Mines Building, St. Louis World’s Fair, c. 1904. (Underwood & Underwood, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
Vulcan Statue & Park, 1996. (Richard K. Anderson Jr., Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
This photograph shows how the Vulcan statue looked prior to the 1999–2004 restoration. (Druid85, Wikipedia)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.