As the 2024 Summer Olympic Games are set to open this July in Paris, France, Wheaton Archives & Special Collections looks back to the 1904 Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, where Wheaton College sent seven student-athletes to compete for the collegiate basketball championship.

Originally planned for Chicago, the 1904 Olympics were moved to St. Louis and combined with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition after extensive political negotiations from the World’s Fair organizers. Among 38 athletic contests, including wrestling, tug-of-war, track, and croquet, St. Louis marked the first time the new sport of “basket ball” appeared in the Olympics. Held as a demonstration sport, four levels of competition were offered, with Wheaton College participating in the College-level against two teams – Hiram College of Ohio and Latter-Day Saints University of Salt Lake City.