Lee County Agricultural Societies and Fairs
With the fluctuations of human interest
and the caprice of the people who raise up interesting features
and then when surfeited, like an old plaything, throw them away,
the county fair may be classed as a creature created and reared
and supported in luxury, and then abandoned. Twice since the
first society was started July 14, 1858, it has languished and
has been revived, the last time by the citizens of Amboy, under
whose fostering care it seems likely to live on forever, as it
should, because the county fair is an institution of the
greatest value to a community as an educator and as a play
ground. During the infancy of the county, William H. Van Epps
was the tower of strength which supported the first fairs ever
held in Lee County.
Mr. Van Epps was a man of great wealth,
of boundless enthusiasm when it came to matters of agriculture
or the welfare of Dixon and Lee County. He was the first
president of the first fair association and his energy made the
old fairs the tremendous successes that they were.
Who is there who can remember back into
the fifties, who will forget the old fair grounds located just
eastward from the cemetery? The eastern portion of the present
cemetery was once the western extreme of that old fair ground.
Even well along into the sixties the old fair grounds were
mighty familiar to the people of the county and to every school
child as well.
In those days it was the custom to admit
the children to the fair on the big day, during each session and
to the most of us those days were the red letter days of our
lives. The side shows then were part of the fair. The barker
flourished in all his luxuriousness. The sword swallower
delighted the kids; the snake charmer either frightened or awed
them into dreadful silence. The fat woman and the fortune teller
lured the unwary or delighted the unsophisticated. Oh! What
glorious old days those were to us kids!
And don't you remember the day the body
of the jewelry peddler was found in the woods by boys in a sad
state of decomposition? The poor fellow was murdered by his
partner. They went into the woods to cut crotched supports for
their tent stall and after the supports had been cut, the axe
was used to cleave his skull, and so the poor fellow was buried
where his decayed body was found and there his dust rests today.
Until very recently, I knew the spot so well I could find it in
the night time. The little mound remained there to indicate the
spot, so late as the year 1875.
And in that old fairground the
Thirteenth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers camped and the
buildings were used for barracks until one Sunday morning the
boys marched out to the fife and the drum to take the Illinois
Central trains provided for their transportation to the theatre
of war, as has been pictured so faithfully by Mrs. S. S. Dodge
in another pail; of this book.
Largely through the efforts of Mr. Van
Epps, the first county agricultural society was formed and in
the year 1858, the first fair was held in the old fair grounds
near the cemetery. As I have stated, William H. Van Epps was the
first president of the society and in this connection it may be
stated also that he was vice-president of the state society
during the years 1859 and 1860. At the next biennial election he
was made president of the state society. The other officers for
the first year were: James C. Mead, recording secretary; James
A. Hawley, financial secretary; William Butler, treasurer; A. R.
Whitney of Franklin Grove, Joseph T. Little of Dixon, F. W. Coe
of Palmyra, Abram Brown of South Dixon, William Uhl of Dixon,
Lorenzo Wood of Dixon, Seth H. Whitmore of Dixon, Hiram Terry of
Dixon and John Moore of Dixon, comprised the executive
committee.
The officers of the society for 1859
were: President, William H. Van Epps; vice presidents, Horace
Preston, Amboy; Thomas S. Hulbert, Bradford; John K. Robison,
Brooklyn; Charles Brackett, China; Joseph Rhodes, Dixon; A. J.
Coltrin, Hamilton; J. McManus, Harmon; Lewis Clapp, Lee Center;
John T. Phillips, Marion; R. B. Viele, May; A. D. Moon, Palmyra;
C. Reynolds, Reynolds; Wesson Holton, Willow Creek, and Hiram
Terry, Wyoming; treasurer, Henry T. Noble; recording secretary,
Charles V. Tenney; corresponding secretary, Joseph T. Little;
executive committee, A. R. Whitney, F. W. Coe, Seth H. Whitmore,
John Moore, H. E. Williams, John Dement, Charles Hansen, Charles
Gardner and William Butler.
The second fair began its session on
Monday, Oct. 10, 1859, and continued with increasing interest,
the entire week. The weather was pleasant, with the exception of
the second day when it was rainy, with a cold east wind. The
crowds in attendance were very large.
There were 167 entries of cattle; 269 of
horses; 86 of swine; 75 of sheep; 141 of farm products; 44 of
poultry; 53 of agricultural implements; 63 of fruits and
flowers; 63 of preserves and jellies; 49 of domestic
manufactures; 29 of household fabrics; 63 of paint-rags and
drawings; 112 of household implements; 38 of mechanic arts; 16
plowing match; 9 ladies' equestrian ship, and 16 miscellaneous.
There was paid out for 1858 premium
disbursements, $75.50; 1859 premiums, $1,448.60. What a jump!
Expense account, $1,921.58; cash balance, $71.15; total,
$3,516.83.
So that it will be seen at once, after
the first year's experiment, there was a tremendous interest
manifested in the fair by the people of the county. Among the
notable exhibits shown was the collection of Doctor Everett's
geological and natural history specimens, all the product of the
Rock River valley. Hon. James Shaw of Mount Carroll also
exhibited his very large collection of geological specimens.
The plow makers, Andrus and Bosworth of
Grand Detour, making the Grand Detour plows, and John Dement,
making the John Dement plow, made very attractive exhibits at
this fair. This shows that thus early in the history of the
county and city, Col. John Dement was a manufacturer of plows.
And it may as well be said in this connection, that when he
discontinued making them, John Deere, of Moline, personally came
to Dixon and hired all of the Colonel's plow makers to go to
Moline and work for the Deere Company.
Colonel Dement always exhibited at the
state fairs, and I have before me the report of one fair at
Springfield in which Colonel Dement's plows were paid a very
high compliment. In the face of the strongest possible
competition, he was awarded the first premiums over everything
else. For over twenty years his plows stood at the head of the
list.
Mr. John Courtright also had at this
second fair a sorghum mill which he operated on the grounds and
which attracted great attention.
Hon. James Shaw, of Mount Carroll, made
the address.
During the year several new buildings
were built: an editor's hall, art hall, dining hall, farm
products hall, ticket and treasurer's office, secretary's
office, a public wash room and a grand stand to seat 1,000
persons. Over in the stock department, the number of buildings
was doubled.
This year must have been one of severe
drought, because Mr. Little speaks about the fine and very large
line of exhibits in the face of the severe drought of the summer
and fall.
The first year's fair, notwithstanding
its marking the beginning of the annual meetings, was a success;
so much so that the officers felt warranted in going forward
with the extensive improvements which I have mentioned. These
fairs grew in interest for several years when the vast drain of
our resources by the demands of the Civil war killed the fairs
pretty generally over this part of the state, this one included.
On June 2, 1870, another fair
association, called the Dixon Park Association, bought extensive
grounds just west of town where a fine set of splendid buildings
were erected and where a fine half mile track was built.
The fairs in the latter grounds were
well attended for ten years. The races brought large numbers of
horses to the track and the fair was a money maker. But with the
prohibition of pool selling and the decline of interest in
fairs, this one languished and died, and no further efforts at
holding a county fair were expended until three years ago when
William L. Leech, of Amboy, interested a number of friends and
in the beautiful Green River park, which the city generously
loaned for the purpose, the first fair was held. It was a great
success from the start. The second year was a greater success
and the present year was a record breaker. Its affairs are
managed by a board of directors and they are elected by the
stock-holders of the association.
Oh! yes, I had forgotten to note the
fact that the first grounds had a first class half mile track,
forty feet wide.
For more of the Amboy Fair Association,
the reader should read the very interesting account, "Amboy of
Today," by Mr. P. M. James.
Lee County
History
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