The Hotel Realty Co. was incorporated on the 24th of January 1903 with the goal to build a new hotel in St. Louis, in preparation for the upcoming World’s Fair which was to be held there the following year. It was incorporated with a capital stock of $600,000 divided into 600 shares of $100. The largest shareholder was Festus J. Wade who was appointed as its President, a self-made Irish immigrant who had arrived in Kerry’s Patch as an infant. Festus J. Wade was also President