Early fairs promoted local livestock and agriculture

In 1851, the Singer sewing machine had been patented, and in 1854 the Republican Party was officially formed. And the year prior to the establishment of the Western Union telegraph and five years before the first Pony Express ride -- in 1855 -- the first Southeast Missouri District Fair was held.

Local fairs started popping up in the United States in the early 1850s, according to a report written by local historian K.J.H. Cochran in 1969. The United States Agricultural Society was formed in New York in June 1851. The United States was originally an agricultural nation, and fairs were started to promote and improve the quality of farm products.

According to local historian Clara Rider Hayden in a book titled "Sounds and Pictures of Yesterday in Cape Girardeau, published in June 1933, the early fairs were "a great diversion for the people of Southeast Missouri - they planned and saved for it. The farmers cared for their cattle in the hopes of reaping a reward - not so much in the premiums as in reputation."

In 1852, the Missouri General Assembly created the Missouri State Agricultural Society, and three years later the General Assembly passed an act creating the Southeast District Agricultural Society, which originally served 23 counties. Its headquarters for the annual fair was in Cape Girardeau.

General Nathaniel W. Watkins of Jackson was the first president. The next year, Judge W.C. Ranney of Cape Girardeau was elected second president. He remained president until the Civil War broke out and the fair was discontinued.

Some accounts say that the first fair was held on South Frederick Street while others claim it was in a woods east of Pacific and south of Good Hope streets. At the time, the fairs were designed to market locally grown produce. Either location was considered rural and, according to records, large landowners attending the fair would stay at inns in Cape Girardeau. Their slaves would camp on the fairgrounds. It was, after all, pre-Civil War.

The fair's 150-year history had a few interruptions. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the fairground site was used as a campground for Union soldiers stationed at Fort C. The soldiers destroyed the war buildings, and by the time the war ended the grounds were unusable as a fair.

In 1870 the legislature passed a bill reviving the Agricultural Society and another local association was formed. It was headed by N.W. Kimmel, who was succeeded by David A. Glenn in 1871. L.F. Klostermann was vice president; Edward H. Englemann, secretary; H.S. Astheltz, treasurer; and August Schivelbine, general manager.

The association bought 100 acres near Gordonville Road, but despite it having the ideal terrain for a fair, it was hard for patrons to get to it. It was inaccessible to pedestrians and only those who had buggies or wagons could get to the fair. There was no public transportation.

According to Hayden's book, "The roads were so crowded and dusty that many sought the longer but quieter route out the Bloomfield road to the bridge, where the gypsies used to camp, then across through the woods to the back gate."

According to the Oct. 6, 1894, issue of the Cape Girardeau Democrat, those who went to the fair enjoyed it immensely. A news account described one event, "boy races," where between 500 and 600 boys competed for cash prizes:

"...the race began in good earnest; and for three long hours the little heroes contended for the prizes. Oh! what fun, what real sidesplitting laughter they created."

The writer also praised the skills of the young girls who entered competitions in sewing, knitting and other crafts.

"The Democrat says, well done little ladies, you bid fair to be first-class housekeepers in the near future, and the boys will have to be up and doing to be worthy of you."

The fair was meant to promote improvements in livestock and agriculture. In another account of the same newspaper issue, farmers were encouraged to look at the Jersey cows displayed at the fair.

"What lovely and lovable little animals those Jersey cows are, just the animals for our city people to keep to furnish milk and butter for family use. They are so clean and easily kept and so gentle a child can milk them. ... One of those little, deer-like Jersey cows can be kept as cheaply as the ordinary scrub cow and the Jersey will give her 10 or 12 pounds of butter weekly, worth in cash 24 cents per pound. Two (sic ) equal this it will require 8 to 10 scrubs."

The fair association went bankrupt in 1897, but resurfaced again in 1900 at what is now Capaha Park. The Cape Girardeau Democrat was exuberant in its description of the fair in 1902, under its new management.

"These men introduced new ideas, new methods -- and one of the first things they did was to abandon the old fair grounds and move to town. ... We have a growing city with railroads from all directions to bring people to our doors, but the new location of the fair and the new blood in management are the main stepping stones to the increased patronage of the fair."

The fair would shut down again during World War I and the Great Depression. It reopened in 1939 at Arena Park where it has been held ever since.