Description: Caption reads: "Ohio Picture Book. Page: 33. Picture: 40. Credit: None. Caption: State Fair, Cleveland, in 1860's." This is a photograph of a drawing of a State Fair in Cleveland. There are signs for both Carriage Entrance and Carriage Exit as well as Foot Entrance, Foot Exit and Ticket Office. There are stables along the right side which are labeled "All Work & Draft Horses." Stables at the top right are for "Roadsters." At the top center a sign reads " [?], Devons & Ayershires [Ayrshires]" and below that "Short Horne." The Ohio State Fair is an annual exhibition held at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus that showcases Ohio farming and commercial products and achievements. In the 1840s, farmers began to join agricultural organizations, and the state of Ohio began to take an interest in the challenges that farmers faced. As a result, the state government created the Board of Agriculture in 1846. The Board of Agriculture planned to hold the first statewide fair in 1849, but a cholera epidemic forced the fair's cancellation. The first Ohio State Fair was held the next year instead. The city of Cincinnati hosted the fair in 1850, which went on for three days. In the early years of the fair, most visitors and exhibitors came from the general vicinity of where the fair was being held. Transportation connecting the state together was still limited. As a result, the Board of Agriculture decided to move the fair to a different location each year so that more people would have access to it over time. A number of cities hosted the fair, including Columbus (1851, 1855, 1864, 1865), Cleveland (1852, 1856, 1862, 1863), Cincinnati (1850, 1857), Dayton (1853, 1860, 1861, 1866, 1867), Sandusky (1858), Zanesville (1859), Toledo (1868, 1869), Springfield (1870, 1871), and Mansfield (1872, 1873). Ultimately, the Board decided that the state capital should be the permanent site for the state fair, and it moved to Columbus in 1874. By the 1870s, the state's railroad system had improved significantly, and it was much easier to travel from all parts of the state. The current fairgrounds, known today as the Ohio Expo Center, were completed in 1886. The Ohio State Fair has been held at these fairgrounds ever since. There are two large tents and one smaller tent as well as several more permanent buildings. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F10_12_01
Subjects: Ohio State Fair
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)