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Missouri State Fair 
 
 Reprint of the 
 
 Disinterested Comment 
 
 of 
 
 Agricultural and Live- 
 
 SIogK Journals. 
 
 Published Outside 
 of Missouri on the 
 
 First Exhibition, 
 
 The Fair of 1901. 
 
 The St. Louis Republic, Sept. 12, 1901. 
 
 “I congratulate you that despite adverse conditions this 
 great enterprise is opened with so large a concourse of people 
 and under circumstances which promise more in the future. 
 
 "I congratulate you, as we inaugurate this great enter- 
 prise. that Missouri will continue to do her share to promote 
 it.”— (From Gov. A. M. Dockery’s speech on opening of the 
 Fair.) 
 
 Sedalia, Missouri. 
 
Missouri State Fair. 
 
 Nornian J. Golit|ar|* Pres, N.H\ Gentry, Vice-Pres- J. •?. Itippey, Sec, 
 
 Second flrnnUa! Fair, Sept. 8 to 83, 8902. 
 
 Repent of the 
 
 Disinterested Gornment 
 
 of — 
 
 Agricultural and Live-StoGK Journals 
 
 Published outside of Missouri on the 
 
 First Exhibition, the Fair of 1901. 
 
 The St. Louis Republic, Sept. 12, 1901. 
 
 “1 congratulate you that despite adverse conditions this great enterprise is opened 
 with so large a concourse of people and under circumstances which promise more in the 
 future. 
 
 “I congratulate you as we inaugurate this great enterprise, that Missouri will continue to 
 do her share to promote it ’’ — (From Gov. A. M. Dockery’s speech on the opening of the 
 Fair.) 
 
 Sedalia, Missouri. 
 
 S. M- HODGES A BRO., 
 PRINTERS AND BINDERS, 
 SEDALIA, MO. 
 

 Jtn 
 
 Example 
 
 St. Louis Republic.* 
 
 All Missouri takes pride in the announcement from 
 Sedalia concerning the financial returns of the State fair. 
 According to the statement of the board, about $1,000 
 remains in the treasury after all bills are paid. This is a 
 surplus that speaks well for the management of the 
 enterprise. 
 
 The time has passed when managers of a fair count upon 
 a deficit. No exhibition of products can be counted a success 
 unless a reasonable degree of financial prosperity attends its 
 management. Experience proves that this prosperity is in- 
 evitably attendant on the wealth of the display and strict 
 business principles. In its own particular field the Missouri 
 State fair has surpassed former efforts. The entertainment 
 deserved .support and consequent success. The coming 
 World’s fair will in its larger field do as well if present indi- 
 cations are to be taken as evidence. 
 
 *With the exception of the above editorial from the St. Louis Republic, all the articles 
 printed in this pamphlet were taken from disinterested agricultural and live stock papers 
 published outside of Missouri. A great majority of the country and city papers in the state 
 have spoken favorably of the first State Fair, and not a single criticism has been made 
 against this institution in any newspaper. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/reprintofdisinteOOmiss 
 
SHEEP PAVILION AT THE NEW MISSOURI STATE FAIR, SEDALIA, 
 
Jal3 
 
 fourth *Dai/ of 97/issouri J s Sreat ait TJhe Jfferefoi cl 
 
 Show — Schoes of 2/esterday’ s festivities — 
 Additional Awards. 
 
 Drovers Journal, Chicago, 111., Sept. 12, 1901. 
 
 Before I say anjThing about the features of today, I 
 want to tell the Drover’s Journal readers of the brilliant 
 climax of yesterday’s entertainment. The people will 
 remember it for years to come as a red-letter event in the 
 history of the State of Missouri. That this lusty youngster 
 among State fairs, which was born on the 9th, could 
 arouse such unbounded enthusiasm was, a surprise, even to 
 the most sanguine. 
 
 There comes a time in the life of every individual, every 
 community, every State, every nation, when great responsi- 
 bilities arise and must be met and discharged, and they should 
 be discharged without regard to cost. One of the responsi- 
 bilities of the Missouri people is to show to one another, as 
 well as to the world, what she is doing in the line of live 
 stock and agriculture; another is to aid the promoters of 
 the Lousiana purchase exposition in building and launching 
 a World’s Fair in all the term implies. Missouri can no 
 longer afford to remain passive in these matters. She has 
 won 75 per cent of the prizes on live stock and products of 
 her soil at the great Fairs and Expositions for the past 
 quarter-century, and, strange to say, she has delayed launch- 
 ing a regularly organized State fair until the present time. 
 This institution, though now an infant, will grow and 
 prosper, and will place Missouri where she belongs in the 
 great galaxy of States. 
 
 Yesterday Sedalia had for its honored guests a delega- 
 
— 6 — 
 
 tion of St. Louis World’s Fair directors and Hon. A. M. 
 Dockery, governor of Missouri, and his staff. The presence 
 of these distinguished visitors was the means of drawing 
 15,000 people to the fair grounds to hear the speeches of 
 Gov. Dockery, Ex-Mayor Walbridge of St. Louis and others 
 and to see the fine displays of live stock, agriculture, poul- 
 try, horticulture and art. 
 
 Closing Scene — Tj/ie Cattle ZParade — Hereford Awards. 
 
 Drovers Journal, Chicago, 111., Sept. 13. 1901. 
 
 This is the closing day of the first Missouri State fair. 
 The five days’ entertainment was a success in every way, 
 and the Missourians of the present will tell their grand- 
 children of the future about the birth of this institution. 
 The birth of an heir to the throne of Russia would not be 
 welcomed with greater delight than the birth of the Mis- 
 souri State fair was welcomed by the Missouri people. 
 This is the last day, and we say farewell until another year, 
 when this youngster will have grown to a fullfledged State 
 fair, equal in size and magnitude to its brothers in the 
 other states. There is a peculiar feeling connected with a 
 farewell of this kind. When one leaves his business for a 
 brief vacation at some popular resort he makes new friend- 
 ships, learns more of his people, and enjoys to the fullest 
 extent the relaxation from business cares. When he leaves 
 his newly made friends the3^ have become as one big family, 
 
> 
 
 
CATTLE BARNS AT THE MISSOURI STATE FAIR. 
 
— 7 — 
 
 and there is a kind of “all gone” feeling in his stomach and 
 a pressure on his chest which indicates his emotion and re- 
 gret by reason of the parting. This is the way I feel today, 
 and I am sure that there are many who share the feeling 
 with me. 
 
 Each and every anniversary of the Missouri State fair 
 will be an improvement over its predecessor. The officers 
 and directors of the association are men of means and 
 affluence, who are not content with today, but will strive 
 to make tomorrow better. They will avoid the mistakes of 
 today in their plans and work of tomorrow. Their fair 
 this year was the work of only a few weeks, yet the amount 
 of work accomplished in the time allotted was phenomenal. 
 It is an indication of what we may expect in the future. 
 
 97/issouri Jfiolcis dts ifirst State ifiair. 
 
 TTfanagement Overcomes 77/ any Difficulties — fDuildinya 
 jtfre 77/odern and of a ^Permanent Character. 
 
 The Twentieth Century Farmer, Omaha, Neb. 
 
 As the income received is the proper basis upon which to 
 estimate the value of an estate, so the products exhibited are 
 the just basis upon which to estimate the true worth of a 
 state at a State fair. Taking this as a basis, Missouri ranks 
 high among the states as a producer of agricultural and 
 stock products, It is a remarkable fact that at all the lead- 
 ing fairs held so far, which include Iowa, Minnesota and 
 Nebraska, as well as the fair just held at Sedalia, Missouri 
 furnished nearly all the prize winners in Herefords and fully 
 half of the Shorthorns. The exhibit of swine was also well 
 
— 8 — 
 
 up to the top. As a horse breeding state it is not far along, 
 but as a breeding ground for mules it outstrips all compe- 
 titors. The fact that such splendid stock can be reared on 
 Missouri soil makes it a self evident truth that the state 
 must produce the agricultural products to feed and develop 
 that kind of stock. 
 
 We call attention to these facts for the purpose of coun- 
 teracting an} r misconception of the true condition, which 
 might have resulted through a visit at the State fair of Mis- 
 souri, where the agricultural display was not such as to im- 
 press itself favorably upon one who was not acquainted with 
 the circumstances. It is probable that no state in the 
 drouth-stricken region had less rain this } r ear than Missouri, 
 and the fact that they had anything in the way of products 
 to bring speaks well for its resources. 
 
 While there have been many fairs held in Missouri, at 
 St, Louis and other points, this was the first real State fair 
 ever held in Missouri. Ninety da} r s before the fair opened 
 the ground was a bare field. When the gates were opened 
 to receive the visitors one of the neatest and most pictur- 
 esque fair grounds in the West met the e} r e, The manage- 
 ment worked on the plan that everything built should be of 
 the best, and every building erected bears testimony of the 
 up-to-date policy of the management. .They are constructed 
 in the most modern style, well lighted, and well ventilated. 
 A better idea of their plan of construction may be had from 
 the illustration which is given on this page from a photo- 
 graph by a special artist of the ^Twentieth Century Farmer. 
 
 The whole attendance for the five days was about 
 50,000. Rain on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday kept 
 many from attending, who otherwise would have come, but 
 
 *This plate was too large for publication in this pamphlet. 
 
— 9 — 
 
 Thursday was a big day and the grounds were well filled. 
 The races were good and the track one of the best and 
 fastest in the West. 
 
 Missouri State 3 air. 
 
 Kansas Farmer, Topeka, Kan. 
 
 Last week Missouri held her first State fair, conducted 
 by the State Board of Agriculture, the officers of which are 
 Norman J. Colman, president; N. H. Gentry, vice-president; 
 C. W. McAninch, treasurer; and J. R. Rippey, secretary. 
 
 These officials have labored under difficulties that seemed 
 almost impossible to surmount. They were limited in the 
 State’s appropriation to $50,000. With this limited 
 amount of money and only five months time in which to 
 complete all arrangements, the)' have accomplished results 
 that are gratifying in the extreme. Just one hundred and 
 fifty days ago the present fair ground site was a bleak 
 prairie located about one and one half miles southwest of' 
 Sedalia. Today this tract of land containing 120 acres 
 looks like a small city. Substantial frame buildings, light, 
 airy and commodious, have been erected for the accomoda- 
 tion of live stock departments, and for the agricultural and 
 art exhibits. A mile race track said to be the best in Mis- 
 souri and possibly in the west, is one of the chief attractions. 
 Eleven large barns have been built on the east side of the 
 race track for the accomodation of trotters and runners. 
 The only feature that could be criticized in the least is the 
 amphitheatre at the track. This is not enclosed and is only 
 a temporary structure. The time was too short to permit 
 
—10 
 
 the erection of a permanent amphitheatre, though tons 
 upon tons of the steel structural material are lying at one 
 side. The temporal arrangement, however, is a worthy 
 make-shift, and no one should complain. 
 
 The arrangements for caring for and showing the live 
 stock are the best provided by any State fair. A large two- 
 story barn with the pens conveniently arranged have been 
 provided for the hogs and sheep. The animals will be 
 shown in a splendid show ring, surrounded by tier upon 
 tier of seats, located in the center of the building. Hog and 
 sheep exhibitors are extremely well pleased, and congratu- 
 late the fair management on their work. There are two 
 large barns for the cattle departments; one for the beef 
 breeds and the other for the dairy cattle. The large show 
 tent* for the cattle was erected recently. It is large and 
 roomy and much like the tent used in Kansas City last Fall. 
 
 In so far as they have gone in the way of buildings, they 
 are modern in all respects and of a permanent character. 
 No state in the west has a better class of buildings, and the 
 management certainly deserve congratulations for the suc- 
 cess achieved this year. Owing to a limited amount of 
 advertising and a rainy week the attendance did not reach 
 the 100,000 mark, but a better conducted fair has not been 
 held this year. 
 
 While the show of agricultural and horticultural 
 products was not large, it was considered a creditable 
 state display for a drouthv year. The principal attraction 
 at this fair was the live stock display, and the principal 
 exhibits and awards are given herewith. 
 
 *Owing to lack of cover and space it was necessary to use three large tents on the 
 grounds, and two of the hoi se barns were temporarily used for agricultural, horticultural, 
 mineral, textile and art exhibits. 
 

 
STABLING FOR RACK HORSES AT THE MISSOURI STATE FAIR. 
 
— 11 — 
 
 7Jhe Missouri State J’air. 
 
 Live Stock Indicator, Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
 Beginning with insufficient money and time, and work- 
 ing against the odds of a most unfavorable season, the 
 officers of Missouri’s first State Fair achieved what 
 might have well been considered impossible. When exhibit- 
 ors and visitors began to arrive on the new grounds at 
 Sedalia they found improvements that older organizations 
 have been years in making and have not equalled. What in 
 the Spring was a bare quarter section of prairie lying in the 
 angle between the Missouri Pacific and the Missouri, Kan- 
 sas and Texas railroads was, with the exception of a race 
 track ampitheatre (which had to be abandoned on account 
 of the steel strike) an admirably equipped exposition ground. 
 A hog and sheep pavilion, said to be the finest in the west, 
 six equally good horse and cattle barns, all of uniform style 
 of architecture, and a mile race track, pronounced fast by 
 horsemen, and proven so by the first race trotted on it, were 
 th prominent features of improvement. The ampitheatre 
 planned was to have been a modern stnicture of steel. In 
 lieu of it a frame “grand stand” was built that accomodat- 
 ed the crowd yeiy comfortabl\\ The grounds were reached 
 from the city conveniently by special trains, alternating on 
 the two railroads, thus running about 15 minutes apart. 
 Lack of funds for advertising purposes kept the association 
 from enjoying the attendance its efforts deserved, but a good 
 start was made, and it only needs time for the news to 
 spread to assure the fair for its second year the success its 
 management so richly deserves. Space will not allow a de- 
 tailed report of exhibits in many classes but in fruit and 
 
—12 
 
 live stock (at any time Missouri’s “main hold”) the quality 
 was high. Another year buildings will be provided for 
 showing the mineral, industrial and manufacturing re- 
 sources of the state. 
 
 Missouri’s ifirst State J^air. 
 
 One of the jCeading Shows of the Western Circuit 
 
 in ^Prospect. 
 
 Breeders’ Gazette, Chicago, 111. 
 
 “In Old Missouri” they finally have a State fair. This 
 is the fruition of years of ardent hope, of patient earnest 
 effort. Those most active in this endeavor, those most 
 loyal to the agricultural interests of the State, have lived to 
 go up and possess the promised land. Every inch of the 
 ground which these broad-gauged indomitable leaders have 
 covered on their way to this goal has been stubbornly con- 
 tested. Every step has been opposed. Unmoved by the 
 brilliant example of other states, untouched by the appeals 
 of the agriculturists and stock breeders who are developing 
 the wealth of natural resources of this great state, men in 
 public places have fought bitterly the proposition to estab- 
 lish an annual central exposition of the agricultural great- 
 ness of the State. It is not pleasant thus to write the 
 history of this enterprise, but it is to the credit of the per- 
 sistent advocates of a Missouri State fair that they have 
 finally triumphed over all such Bourbon opposition, and 
 now behold at Sedalia the foundation of a fair that is un- 
 doubtedly destined to attain an importance and dignity 
 
—13 
 
 wholly adequate to this grand state of wooded bluegrass 
 pastures, and broad and fertile fields. 
 
 The waning glories of the erstwhile “Great St. Louis 
 Fair” made almost imperative such an institution as a 
 State fair, under the auspices of the State Board of Agricul- 
 ture. The very existence of the St. Louis exhibition, 
 famous for } r ears as an inter-state battle-ground, doubtless 
 militated much against the growth of sentiment in favor 
 of a State fair, but those who knew the decadence of that 
 institution and understood how little it now serves as an 
 exposition of the agricultural and live stock possibilities of 
 the State were keenl}" alive to the necessity of a fair that 
 would exemplify State pride and spirit, and draw out an- 
 nually unimpeachable evidences of the unsurpassed richness 
 of this commonwealth in the products of its soil and herds. 
 Those uninformed need only to consult the list of exhibitors 
 of pedigreed live stock during the past decade to learn how 
 eminent is the position of this state in the propagation of 
 the improved breeds of live stock, and one has only to look 
 to the two great markets, maintained on each border of the 
 state, to realize how materially the prosperity of its agricul- 
 tural population is wrapped up in the making of meats. 
 No state is more singularly favored in natural agricultural 
 advantages than Missouri. No state grows greater corn, 
 no commonwealth can boast of richer blue grass grazing 
 lands. Added to this a population whose leaders inherit a 
 love for live stock and a genius in the moulding of the 
 animal form, and we have the secret of the commanding 
 success attained in the pursuit of stock farming in this nat- 
 urally-gifted state. 
 
 It was written by the fates that this state should at 
 
14- 
 
 last awake and build an imposing monument to its agricul- 
 tural fatness. The widely disseminated but unorganized 
 sentiment in favor of such a movement finally crystalized in 
 the official action of Missouri Live Stock Breeders’ Association 
 which has been gradually growing in power and influence, 
 and in January of 1899 the Legislature was asked to sanction 
 the establishment of a Missouri State fair. Opposition bit- 
 ter and even virulent quickly developed, but it was swept 
 aside by the determined advocates of the measure both in 
 and out of the general assembly and the Missouri State 
 Fair assumed legislative form. The State Board of Agricul- 
 ture was made sponsor for it and into the hands of an execu- 
 tive committee of five, elected by the Board, the entire con- 
 trol of the fair was given. This committee includes N. J. 
 Colman, St. Louis, president; N. H. Gentry, Sedalia, vice- 
 president; Alexander Maitland, Richmond; J. A. Potts, Mex- 
 ico; and Thomas B. North, Gray’s Summit. J. R. Rippey is 
 secretary and C. W. McAninch is treasurer. A measure en- 
 titled the “Horse Breeders Bill”, which licensed the selling of 
 pools on race tracks in the state took its place on the stat- 
 ute books, and the fair was given the proceeds from such 
 licenses, amounting in 1899 and 1900 to $17,000. The leg- 
 islature of 1901 appropriated the insignificant sum of $50,- 
 000 for laying the foundation of the equipment of the fair 
 grounds, and this sum was secured only after a determined 
 effort. The proceeds of the horse breeders’ bill for the next 
 two years also fall to the fair fund, not however in excess 
 of $25,000. Thus picayunish was the legislature. 
 
 Not so many cities as claimed the illustrious Homer 
 dead offered a site for the fair, but five Missouri municipali- 
 ties entered into a spirited contest for the honor of the loca- 
 

 
WHERE THE JACKS ARE STABLED AT SEDALIA. 
 
—15— 
 
 tion of this institution. Sedalia finally won — a town ofl5,- 
 000 people, lying in almost the exact center of the state from 
 north to south but two-thirds of the way toward its west- 
 ern border, and onl} T three hours from Kansas City. The 
 richness of the surrounding country, the accessibility of the 
 town, the enterprise of its citizens united to win the fight. 
 One hundred and sixty acres of land lying within one and 
 one-half miles of the court house as the crow flies, was pre- 
 sented free to the State Board of Agriculture as the home of 
 the fair and the city water works system was extended to 
 supply free water perpetually. The electric wires will be run 
 to the grounds to furnish not only light but power, and the 
 trolly track will be extended to the grounds. Transporta- 
 tion facilities are now as perfect as could be devised, and the 
 trolley will in time spoil all. The main line of the Missouri, 
 Kansas & Texas railroad skirts the grounds on its diagonal 
 way northeast to southwest across the state while the main 
 line of the Missouri Pacific, linking St. Louis with Kansas 
 City, needed only a spur of less than a quarter of a mile to 
 land passengers at the gates of the fair. Both roads are 
 keenly alive to the situation. The “Katy” has built an un- 
 loading platform 365 feet long for stock and other carried 
 exhibits, and the Missouri Pacific has constructed one near- 
 er as long. These will be extended as necessity requires. 
 Both roads have built covered terminals and alternately 
 run frequent trains from the same station in the city, thus 
 affording the perfection of service for the transportation of 
 large crowds. 
 
 We confess to keen disappointment on first view of the 
 ground. A treeless tract for the home of the fair seems sad- 
 ly out of consonance with this state of grand oaks and elms. 
 
16— 
 
 Of coarse construction can proceed more readily and cheaply 
 when growing timber does not interfere, and after all it is 
 chiefly a matter of sentiment, but the suggestions of senti- 
 ment do not readily yield to more sordid considerations. 
 Knowing the limited funds at the disposition of the execu- 
 tive committee one would not expect more than a hint at 
 the equipment which it is hoped will one day make this fair 
 famous among like institutions of its sister states, but it is 
 a source of gratification to note that whatever has been ac- 
 complished has been well done. It is unfortunate that the to- 
 pography of the ground was so unfavorable that more than 
 $20,000 was expended in building the race track, the filled- 
 in grade on the first turn being so great that the reckless 
 driver who hubs the rail stands chance of landing a distance 
 of 25 feet below. This expenditure does not include the grand 
 stand, the steel work for which was not delivered in time 
 to allow of its erection for use last week. This stand wall be 
 put up in sections and gradually enlarged as the demand in- 
 dicates and funds permit. 
 
 The most imposing structure on the grounds at present 
 is the sheep barn, a splendid example of the fair building in 
 its best estate, planned with a view to capacity, light, ven- 
 tilation and convenience. It is nearly 200 feet square, with 
 500 pens, and in the center of it is the show arena 50 feet 
 square, with raised seats for 1,200. The cost of this struc- 
 ture was $12,000. This year it sheltered both sheep and 
 swine, but the plans contemplate a twin structure for swine, 
 situated so close to the railway that exhibitors can drive 
 their pigs from the cars into the pens and thus be spared 
 the hard and heavy work of carting crated exhibits. Of 
 tasteful design and pleasing appearance, as is shown plainly 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HORSE BARN NOW USED FOR GENERAL EXHIBITS AT MISSOURI STATK FAIR 
 
— 19 — 
 
 as possible to meet the present emergency. They do not 
 disguise the fact that all loss cannot be recouped in a single 
 favorable season, but they trim their sails to the breezes 
 that now blow and go forward with faith in the future. 
 
 That such a calamity should come in conjunction with 
 the christening of a great State fair seems peculiarly un- 
 fortunate. That it should fail to affect the exhibits and the 
 attendance was not possible. But that the long delayed 
 rain, the rain that had been prayed for should withhold its 
 coming until fair week seemed taxing the patience of a suf- 
 fering people to the extremest limit. Rain and the threat 
 of storm kept thousands from the fair grounds at Sedalia. 
 The drouth and the fear that accomodations might not suffice 
 turned not a few exhibits from its doors. Thus inauspici- 
 ously was the Missouri State fair opened. But a beginning 
 was made, a firm foundation was laid. Missouri agricul- 
 turists are now put upon their metal. They must choose 
 between success and failure of a state institution. State 
 pride is touched. The men in charge of this fair have build- 
 ed wisely and well. At unknown sacrifice of personal in- 
 terests they have labored loyally for the success of this 
 newly established institution and have a right to expect 
 stout support from those whose interests they have cham- 
 pioned. Money is needed; sentiment must be created and 
 sustained. Let every Missourian do his duty to this State 
 Fair.