OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 313 Today's Topics: #1 History of Sandusky Co. Fair --- P [RICKSORG@aol.com] ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 12:32:40 EDT From: RICKSORG@aol.com Subject: History of Sandusky Co. Fair --- Part 2 The following are excerpts from the book "HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY OHIO, With Portraits And Biographies Of Prominent Citizens And Pioneers" - by Homer Everett, Esq., Wilbur G. Zeigler, and "a writer in the employ of the publishers." Published by H. Z. Williams & Bro., Cleveland, Ohio; 1882. Reproduced in 1972 by Unigraphic, Inc.; Evansville, Indiana. Found on pgs. 208 - 217, in a discussion of the history of the Sandusky County Fair which was held almost every year, beginning in 1852, and the Sandusky County Agricultural Society which created and sponsored the event: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ WHERE THE FIRST FAIR WAS HELD The society had acquired no land on which to hold the fair of 1852. However, it procured the right to sufficient room to begin. If the reader will take the map of Fremont, find State street, and follow it to the east end of the bridge over the Sandusky River, and find lots number four hundred and sixty-four and four hundred and sixty-five, fronting that street on the south side of it, and notice numbers four hundred and thirty and four hundred and thirty-one in the rear of them, they will find the ground where the first agricultural fair was held, beginning on the 13th day of October, 1852...... <> [skipping over several years, here] WHO FITTED UP FLORAL HALL IN 1861. As a matter of history, already interesting in the county, and to become more and more interesting as time rolls on, we give the names of the committee designated by the board of the society, to fit up floral hall for the fair of 1861. We record them here for two reasons. First, because it gives some idea of the interest the people took in these annual exhibitions. Secondly, because it preserves for future mention the names of a number of the men and women then prominent in our social circles, for their taste and devotion to the cause of improvement in all directions. The committee named by the board for fitting up floral hall, for the annual fair of 1861, were as follows: J. W. Failing, O.W. Vallette, Henry Buckland, Willard Norton, L. Morehouse, E. Simpkins, Mrs. G. Grant, Mrs. L. Q. Rawson, Mrs. G. Canfield, Mrs. Nat Haynes, Mrs. John Magee, Miss Eliza Simpkins, Miss Beckey Simkins, Miss Isabella Nyce, Miss M. Justice, Miss Martha Raymond, Miss Ellen Hafford, Miss Jennie McLellan, Miss S. Botefur, Miss E. A. Morehouse, Miss Mary Canfield, Miss Amelia Norton, Miss Sarah Jane Grant, Miss H. Thompson, Miss Myra Kepler, Miss L. Kepler, Miss Emma Downs, Miss A. Sharp, Miss Sarah Wilson, Miss Mary Durand, Miss Eva Bartlett, and Miss Bell Maxwell. To the resident of Fremont in the year 1861, who was familiar with the social organization at that time, the names on this committee will awake reminiscences of intense interest. The list of young, and beautiful, and cultured ladies, embraces what was, at that time, the cream of our collected beauty of person, and culture of intellect, and, no doubt, those who resided in Fremont in the fall of 1861, and witnessed how these earnest, and beautiful, and good women labored to make the fair of the society for 1861 interesting and profitable, will trace the history of each gentleman and lady of this committee through the checkered scenes of their after life with intense interest..... <> DURING THE WAR From the formation of the society in 1852, to the year 1862, although the civil war broke out in 1861, the annual fairs had been held without a single failure in any year. True it is that in the year 1861 the war cloud hung heavy over all the land, but so remote were the people of Sandusky county from the contending armies and the battlefield, that our business was not seriously interrupted until the summer of 1862. Then the cloud, thicker and darker than before, spread over the whole sky and enveloped us in darkness, gloom, and fear. After the premium list was published and the days for the fair selected, we find the following entry on the journal of the society, in the handwriting of the secretary, Vallette: "Owing to the unsettled state of the county on account of the war, and the fact that the draft in our county came on the days appointed for our fair, it was decided by the officers of the society to postpone the fair for this year. O. W. VALLETTE, Secretary Fremont, August, 1862" Hence, the society held no fair in the year 1862. <> [skipping ahead to 1866] In May, 1866, the board met and ordered that Theodore Clapp superintend the building of a new fence around the fair grounds, and put the grounds in good condition. On the 28th of September the board met and made the following entry on their journal: "Fremont, September 28, 1866. Owing to the late floods, and the damage done on the fair grounds, it has been decided to postpone the fair for this year. O. W. VALLETTE, Secretary" Therefore no fair was held in the year 1866, on account of a flood. Thus we see the society was prevented from holding its fairs twice in the first fourteen years of its existence, first in 1862, by the war, and, second, in 1866, by a flood which overflowed and damaged its grounds. On the 14th of February, 1867, the members of the society met at the office of Theodore Clapp, and elected the following officers to serve the ensuing year: Platt Brush, president; Charles H. Bell, vice-president; E. Walters, Charles Powers, George W. Beck, and J. V. Beery, managers. On the 7th of March following, the board met, and elected J. V. Beery secretary, and J. P. Elderkin treasurer. Let it be remarked that about this time some enterprising gentlemen who were fond of cultivating speedy horse-flesh, had organized the Fremont Driving Park Association, and had rented some out-lots on the hill, on the east side of the river, on which a fine track was formed, on which the speed of trotting and running horses could be tested and compared. Let no one think or suspect that anything like vulgar horse-racing was connected with this Driving Park Association. The out lots rented by this association were very finely situated for a fair ground. Hence, at the meeting of the board in March, 1867, on motion of Mr. Rathbun, Platt Brush and Charles H. Bell were appointed a committee to confer and make arrangements with a committee of the Driving Park Association, to hold the county fair upon their ground. On the 23rd day of May, 1867, the board met; present, P. Brush, George Beck, D. Betts, B. Inman, E. Walters, and John V. Beery. The committee, C. H. Bell and P. Brush, reported that they had rented the driving park for nine years, at a yearly rent of seventy-five dollars, for the purpose of holding the fairs of the society. After the adoption of this report, the president appointed Charles H. Bell and Saxton S. Rathbun, a committee to attend to the removal of floral hall from the old fair ground to the driving park. At this same meeting the premium list was arranged, and the next fair of the society appointed to be held on the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of October, 1867, the days of the week being Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The fair was held, accordingly, on the grounds of the Driving Park Association, the premiums awarded and paid, and the fair was now established on the east side of the river, on the hill and above the reach of floods. But the facilities for procuring a supply of water were lacking, and there was no shade. Still the fair was well attended, and was reasonably successful..... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Rick Sorg ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ researching - SORG, STROHL, WILSON, HARGER, HAGUE, VAN-WY (VAN-Y), HAWK (HAAG, HAG), TILLOTSON, HARRIS, KENNEDY -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #313 *******************************************