The Great Hope of the World

America was founded on Hope. Freedom, prosperity, and the possibility of happiness drew people from every corner of the world, people who risked everything on the journey, for a chance to participate in the miracle. This is the story of one city in one specific point in our history trying to have it all. The promise of Saint Louis as the Gateway to the West was about to be fulfilled in 1874. The Eads Bridge, one of the greatest engineering feats of the century, was about to span the Mississippi allowing the railroads to make it the richest, most important city in America. There seemed to be nothing that would stop the destiny of Saint Louis with its Southern charm, Eastern culture, and Western willingness to break all rules in the name of progress. The story of these great expectations and great efforts thwarted is told in the diaries of two Irish immigrants, Betha and Fergal Dunne, who have a financial interest in the bridge as well as a deep interest in their own happiness in family and love and money. The city they live in is referred to by boosters as the Great Hope of the World. Fergal and Betha live on that hope, but find a greater one, an even more American version, that makes their lives worth living.