September 2005 .............

Kansas State Fair:   In January of 1873, when the prairie town of Hutchinson was barely one year old a group of businessmen met and organized the Reno County Agricultural Society. In   Sept. of that year, the society hosted a fair which was held in a small wooden livery stable behind the town's only bank.  The businessmen wanted a larger fair the next     year and proposed a tax levy. Whether it was the voter disapproval of the levy or the the devastating visitation of hordes oh hungry grasshoppers, the fain of 1874 was  never held. In 1875 the first annual Reno Co. fair was held and was destined to become the present Kansas State Fair. It was renamed the Arkansas Valley Fair Assoc in 1885, and in 1900 it became the Central Kansas Fair Association. This association was recognized by an act of the state legislature in 1903, and that gave the fair association the license to call the event "The Kansas State Fair" Early in 1912 the grounds where the fair remains today were purchased. Some Early buildings that are still standing are the "House of Capper", built    in 1917 - it offered a place to rest in rocking chairs stationed on the shaded veranda and rest rooms. It is today   the Professional Arts Building and the 4-H Encampment Building.  Lake Talbot, once a neglected sandpit, was developed into a landscaped garden in 1931.  In 2001 $29 million was approved for improvements. In 2005, 324,705  people visited the fair in its nine day run.  The fairgrounds are located at 2000 N. Poplar in Hutchinson.

| Home | Map Page | Kansas Index | Next Kansas Page | Previous Kansas Page |