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Exhibit highlights history of the fair
A special exhibit this year at the Bourbon County Fair chronicles the birth of the annual event and the various locations it has occupied through the years.
Local historian Arnold Schofield, who has completed extensive research, reviewing past newspaper articles since his retirement from the Kansas Historical Society, said he accidentally stumbled upon information about the first Bourbon County Agricultural Society.
"I was looking for certain things, not on the fair, and all of a sudden in an issue there was a brief article that said the Bourbon County Agricultural Society was formed May 15, 1860," he said.
Schofield said he assumed the society was a predecessor to the fair board, and after working with the staff in the Bourbon County Register of Deeds office to determine original fair locations, he was able to piece together the fair's evolution throughout the past 152 years.
The primary focus of the exhibit in the Myers Memorial Open Class Building is five reproductions of fair posters, which can be purchased for $20 at the superintendent's desk in the Myers Building. Proceeds will go toward upkeep of the facilities at the fairgrounds.
"Agriculture is one of the keystones of Kansas and Eastern Kansas historically, and it is today," Schofield said. "So the county fairs and the state fairs are a way of carrying on that tradition."
Schofield said the Bourbon County Fair is one of the oldest in Kansas, but he's not sure what the oldest is.
The first annual Bourbon County Fair was held on Oct. 24-25, 1860, about three miles west of Fort Scott, near the village of Marmaton on the farm of William R. Griffith. The fair had only 35 classes for the two-day event.
From 1861-1868, the fair occupied about 10 acres between 12th and 14th streets and National Avenue on the west and the alley east of Scott Avenue. The actual number of fairs held between those years is unknown because of the Civil War.
After the war, the fair moved to a larger location, had 149 classes and attracted even more attendees when coupled with the state fair.
The third fair location, between 1869-1900, was on 40 acres of land the Bourbon County Agricultural Society purchased three miles south of the city where Taco Bell, Ward-Kraft, LabConco and Extrusions Inc. are now.
While the fair was held at this location, residents could opt to take mule-driven street cars down Main Street to what is now U.S. Highway 69 and National Avenue for 5 cents, Schofield said. From there, stagecoaches would carry passengers the rest of the way to the fairgrounds.
The Kansas State Fair was held in Bourbon County in 1871 and Schofield said newspapers reported about 10,000 people attended the event that year.
Fair-goers frequented floral and mechanical halls, along with the various tents lining the fairgrounds during those years. Baseball tournaments and various competitions or races regularly occurred until around 1900. A Fort Scott team competed in 1871 but didn't win.
The fair's peak was 1880-1890, Schofield said.
The Bourbon County Fair moved to Uniontown between 1901-1941 and ceased during World War II. Meanwhile, farmestas were held at Main Street Park, where Buck Run Community Center is, or later both Frary and Share Fields.
With an eye toward bringing the fair back to Bourbon County, a group of individuals in 1946 purchased the acreage east of Horton Street across from Fort Scott Community College.
Today, 66 years later, the fair has evolved to include more than 339 4-H classes and 546 open classes featuring various agriculture, horticulture and livestock events.
"It's still an agriculturally based fair," Schofield said. "What you see today ... in the 1860 fair, there was one hog class; now there are many types of swine classes.
"The other thing that was absent in the early fairs was the sheep classes and now there are no horse or mule classes," he added.
"But we are still an agriculturally based county," Schofield said. "Fairs have been an (integral) part of any agriculture area, all the way from New England to California."
For more information about this exhibit, or the fair, call (620) 223-3455.
Seeking photos
Local historian Arnold Schofield and the Old Fort Genealogical Society are seeking any pictures of the Bourbon County buildings and fairgrounds, especially prior to 1970. "Sure would like to find more," Schofield said.
Anyone with pictures can take them to Memorial Hall to be copied by the Genealogical Society from 1-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.