When the first Richland County Fair was held, Zachary Taylor was
President of the United States and baseball had been around for only 10
years. Agriculture was much different in the mid-19th century. Imagine
if you will, no electric milking machines, no tractors and of course no
computers to tell us when crops need to be planted. Today's Richland
County Fair is an eight-day event offering entertainment of all kinds,
but the first fair was a one-day affair, held on October 26, 1849. This
years Richland County Fair will be the 151st edition, which makes
events like the Kentucky Derby (1874) or the Indianapolis 500 (1911)
seem like relative newcomers. In fact, in 1849, there were only 30
states in the union and Ohio was part of the northwestern part of the
nation, not the Midwest. The Richland County Fair has been at three
different Mansfield sites during its long existence. The first location
was at the corner of Bellville and Lexington roads. Those roads have
since changed names and are now known as South Main Street and
Lexington Avenue. The fair was held at that location in 1865, when gate
admission was only 10 cents. In 1869, the fair was held at a new site
on Springmill Street just up from Harker Street. It remained at that
location until 1957.
By the way the Ohio State Fair has not always been held in Columbus.
Mansfield held the event in both 1872 and 1873. Harness racing was the
reason for moving the state fair to Mansfield. The track at the
Springmill Street fairgrounds was considered the best half-mile in the
state at the time. Moving the state fair to Mansfield did not help the
county fair, in fact, it hurt considerably. The agriculture society was
forced to sell the grounds in 1875.
However, the fair continued to be held at the Springmill site. A new
society was formed on April 25, 1875, with S.B. Sturges elected as
president. It was decided to drop the word "county" from the title and
let the fair be known as "Richland Fair". The fair had some rough
financial times in the late 1800's and early 1900's but remained in
operation. Since 1849, there has been only one year when there was not
a fair in Richland County, and that came during one of the darkest
periods of American history. The pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
was destroyed in a surprise attack by Japanese on December 7,1941 and
suddenly the country was at war with Japan and its allies, Germany and
Italy, President Franklin Roosevelt mandated and the citizens supported
the appeal for all of the energy of the country to be devoted to the
war effort. It was decided by the Ohio Stat4e Department of Agriculture
not to send out any state exhibits to county fairs in the summer of
1942. Later that same year, there was more bad news for the fair board
as the grandstand at the Springmill fairgrounds burned for the final
time on November 29,1942
In 1943, no senior fair was held, only a Junior Fair, which remained
the case until 1954. Shortly after the grandstand burned, talk began
about moving the fair to a new location. The State Department of
Agriculture told the county fair board that if they wanted to again
host a senior fair they should move to a better and larger location.
Years of heated discussion followed, with at least one board member
voting not to move. Finally, on August 30, 1955, the f\air board voted
to sell the Springmill property in order to purchase ground for a new
fairgrounds. The first fair to be held on the current site on Home Road
was in 1957. That decision ushered in what might be referred to as the
modern age of the Richland County Fair.
There really wasn't much to the fairgrounds that first year except
tents. Only five buildings stood on the grounds: the Lantz Road, also
the bank barn, a pole building a poultry building and a restroom
facility. The restroom building was later converted into the senior
fair entries office in 1984. The pole building, meanwhile, has been
used for a number of exhibits during fair time over the years. They
include: youth, merchant, and agriculture displays. Currently, the
building is used to house both dairy and beef cattle. The po8ltry
building has remained just that, a poultry building, since it was
rebuilt in early 1957 after being moved from the Springmill Street
site. The next year the current swine and sheep barn was constructed.
This particular building has undergone a number of renovations in 40
years, including the building of a new show arena in 1984 and the
inclusion of a cement door in 1989. The Youth Building-Cafeteria
complex was built in 1961, originally used not for youth, but merchant
displays. Since its construction, this building has bee the main base
of operation of the Fairhaven Auxiliary, which has operated its
cafeteria here every year since 1961. They paid for the addition of
restrooms in 1971 and an updated kitchen in 1994. In 1964 the fair
board put up seven new buildings at the cost of only $41,000.00. All of
these buildings were used for animal exhibits. They are as follows:
junior swine and sheep barns parallel to the existing senior swine and
sheep facilities, senior and junior beef barns, a dairy barn, plus
barns for horses, ponies, and goats.
As we have already said, 40 years brings a lot of changes and these
buildings are no different. Now pay attention, this may get confusing
and there will be a quiz later.... The junior swine and sheep barn now
houses our always curious buddies, the goats. The original senior beef
barn hosts the Junior Fair activity program and was renovated to
include public restrooms, a drooped ceiling, and air conditioning in
1994. It is named in honor of long time board member and 4-H leader
John Hartz. The dairy building is now used to show off part of the
large draft horse display, meanwhile the original goat barn now
provides shelter for our furry friends, the rabbits. Senior sheep nave
now taken over the former junior beef barn. But that's not b\ad news
for the cattle, since a new steer barn was built in 1991. The horse and
pony barns are the only ones to be used for the same purpose they were
built for in the 60's.