For the appointment of a commission to erect a building on the grounds of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and to take charge of the building and exhibits that might be placed therein, the governor was authorized to appoint within thirty days after the passage of the act, a commission of seven residents of the State of Ohio and one executive commissioner, who should be ex officio a member of the commission.  No more than four of the commission were to be of the same political party.  It was the duty of the commission to decide upon plans and specifications for an Ohio Building to cost not exceeding $35,000.  Members of the commission were not entitled to receive any compensation for their services except their actual expenses for transportation and for subsistence for the time they were necessarily engaged on the business of the commission.  The salary of the executive commissioner was $2,500 per annum, and in addition to this salary he was allowed his actual and necessary expenses.  That there should be appropriated the sum of $50,000, $25,000 to be available on and after the 15th day of February, 1903, for the erection and equipment of the building and for other expenses provided for in the act.

An extra appropriation of $12,500 for the completion of the State building was provided for in an act passed March 25, 1904, making an appropriation for an Ohio Building on the grounds of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mo.

The following commissioners were appointed: 

William F. Burdell, president; L.E.  Holden, vice-president; Stacey B. Rankin, executive commissioner; D.H.  Moore, Edwin Hagenbuch, M.K.  Gantz, Newell K. Kennon, and David Friedman.

As soon as the bill had been passed and the commissioners had been appointed a meeting of the commission was held for the purpose of deciding upon the plans for the State building.  The building was erected on the southeastern end of the fair grounds, on that part known as the Terrace of States, at a cost of $35,000.  The structure was designed solely for the comfort and convenience of the people of the State, and no effort was made to exhibit therein any of the resources of the State.  In an act of the general assembly of the State an additional bill was passed March 24, 1904, appropriating $12,500 for completing and furnishing the State building on the grounds of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.  In this connection it may be of interest to mention that President Francis especially complimented the commission for its promptness in having the building erected, for on the opening day of the exposition the Ohio Building was ready for occupancy and the president himself was the first to register his name.  At the close of the exposition the commission advertised for the sale of the building and disposed of it to the highest bidder.