As the world readies for the 2012 Summer Games in London, Americans can look back to 1904, when the first U.S.-based Olympics were held in St. Louis, Missouri. Affiliated with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the U.S. hosting of the Olympics lasted four-and-a-half months and took place in different parts of the city.

Forest Park, a public park in western St. Louis, hosted the diving, water polo, and swimming events on the Life Saving Exhibition Lake. According to Wikipedia, during the water polo events, cattle from the nearby Fair site used for an agricultural exhibition wandered into the lake opposite of the swimming and water polo events. Four of the water polo players who competed at the 1904 Games would die of typhus by the middle of 1905 because of the wayward cattle. Twelve countries competed in 16 sports. Archery was the only sport in which women were allowed to compete. The 1904 Games in St. Louis were the first in which African Americans were allowed to compete. The United States won 239 medals (Germany finished second with 13).

Forest Park was opened in 1876 and today consists of 1,317 acres. Major attractions include the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, and the St. Louis Science Center. Today, more than 12 million people visit Forest Park each year, exceeding the number of annual visitors to both Busch Stadium and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial combined.