Some links about the first Texas State Fair, which was held in the 1870s south of downtown Houston and appears on the Koch map from 1873 as number 19, in the upper-right-hand corner. (The number seems to have been left off this reproduction.) S. O. Young described it as being on “the old Hadley place out on Main Street, known for years after as the Fair Grounds.”¹

• State historic marker for the Fair Grounds Base Ball Park
• Chron.com article about the midtown site.
• Landmark Designation Report about a house in the Fairgrounds Addition neighborhood

Interesting to note that a streetcar line began to be extended to the Fair Grounds or South End around 1873 or 1874, down Louisiana or Main? (Maybe even earlier. 1872? See list of directors that year. This is the same year cadets from Texas Military Academy come.)

1870

The first State Fair was held at the Magnolia Warehouse and grounds, also referred to as “Macatee’s grounds,” which appears on the 1869 map at the foot of Congress Street, just north of Buffalo Bayou.²

See overview and list of officers in Houston Weekly Telegraph, May 5, 1870.

Partly to counter complaints from some critics in other localities, the Telegraph stressed the fair’s statewide character and its having been incorporated with a charter.³

Confederate postmaster J. H. Reagan gave a speech at the fair. The Texas Historical Society was also formed at the fair.⁴ The Daily Union commented on the conjunction and noted that it felt like being “back in the days of the rebellion, from the doctrine enunciated by the gentlemen, and the repeated cheers, by some of the crowd.” Reagan argued that “the negroes of the South were in a better condition in every respect before their freedom,” and Ashbel Smith revealed that he “yet had a Confederate flag hid away” and wished to be buried with it. Judge Gray also spoke. John T. Brady, George Goldthwaite, C. C. Gillespie, and J. W. Henderson also involved, but so was E. M. Pease.⁵

The Houston Daily Union critized the segregation of refreshment stands envisioned by the directors, provoking a retort from the Telegraph.⁶ Later, the Union criticized the directors for cancelling the contract of Sam Green, “a colored man,” on the second day of the fair because the contract had specified he could only sell to Black customers, but he acceded to a demand made by a group of drunken white men for some beer, “fearing trouble” if he did not give in. “Now, there is certainly great injustice in this, especially given it is known that some of the other stands were required not to sell to the blacks, but to the whites only, did sell to the colored people.”⁷

Results of July Election of officers in the Fair Association listed in City Directory for 1870-1, along with a lengthy narrative about the inaugural event. I. C. Lord on the Fair Ground Committee.

1871

In January, the Daily Union reported on the association’s purchase of the eighty acres ground “in the suburbs of the city” and described their intentions to turn it into “a grand City Park” that could be used as a pleasure resort the rest of the year. “If the eighty acres are not enough for a Grand Park for a future great city, such as this will be, they can, must, and will, obtain more. Nearly all cities neglect this matter of parks until the land becomes so expensive, and the space so much occupied, that they cannot accomplish what they should do.”⁸

In lead up to it, the City Council, with Brock and Burke as aldermen, considered several ordinances related to the Fair.⁹ The City Council also received a petition, “with double row of signers, two yards in length, praying that $10,000 of the city funds” be donated for improvement of the Grounds.¹⁰ An ordinance was passed that approved the donation.¹¹ The Daily Union agreed with the move.¹² But it later wrote an article implying that the directors were not spending the money well on decorations for the ground, and suggesting that some were waiting for “patronage” to take up the work.¹³

The Daily Union also described the improvements made on the grounds: “There is also some of the finest looking shade trees that can be found anywhere. … The whole grounds are surrounded by a beautiful green prairie, which is the very thing for a fine ball game, tournament and other such amusement.”¹⁴ The campus was “becoming the most popular resort in Houston. A number of ladies and gentlemen strolled out on Sunday evening. It is a nice walk in the cool of part of the day, but most too much of a good thing when the sun is hot.”¹⁵

In May, the privilege of operating the refreshment stands was auctioned off: Frank Vance and Taylor Burke both placed successful bids on ice-cream saloons, the only two “colored” men listed here, though Green is mentioned later (see below).¹⁶ On the same day it reported those sales, the Union published an editorial deploring any drunkenness or partisan politics at the Fair and calling for an “era of good feelings.”¹⁷

Horace Greeley traveled to Houston to give an address to 1871 fair.¹⁸ But according to an unidentified correspondent accompanying Greeley, “Mr. Greeley conversed with very few negroes. … The gray headed men of the South are those who seem disposed to greet the New York editor and agitator with the deepest respect.”¹⁹

A Cincinnati Commercial correspondent came to the city and described the grounds:

The Directors, since last summer, have purchased 70 acres of land on Main street, about a mile south of the business center of the city, inclosed an ample portion of it, and erected as handsome and commodious buildings within as could be desired. The grounds are covered with a prairie sward, and are dotted here and there by little groups of locusts and fine, clear-limbed oaks of medium size.²⁰

The Commercial report also noticed the presence of “a row of squatters’ stalls, populated chiefly by Africans, dispensing solid and liquid refreshment” just outside the gates. There was also a “flying dutchman” on the grounds “run by colored men,” one of whom was the cashier and manager. Black men, he noted for northern readers, also composed part of the police force.²¹

The Daily Union gave a vivid description of the grounds, including the “ice-cream saloons” of “Sam Green & Burk, Frank Vance, and Gus. Mc Kernon.”²² But it also reported on a slight shown to Mayor T. H. Scanlan by fair director E. W. Taylor, who prevented the Republican mayor from sitting on the honorary platform set up for Greeley’s speech.²³

Afterwards the “cash footing” of the Association showed “a clear gain of about $3500,” prompting plans to make further improvements to the grounds, including the rebuilding of refreshment and other stands.²⁴ The Association also advertised the opening of the grounds year-round; they would be selling “Annual Tickets” and also renting refreshment stands out.²⁵ The next month, a report from Mayor T. H. Scanlan recommended more investment in city parks before land prices got too high; he envisioned one in the Fifth Ward, one “on or near the Washington road, somewhere beyond the Central Railroad machine shop,” and one “in the southern part of the city.”²⁶

1872

The Galveston Tri-Weekly News reported on improvements made to the grounds since the previous year.²⁷ Before it began, the City Council gave permission for a street car to go down Travis, and were also asked by the president S. S. Munger to “regulate hack charges during the continuance of the State Fair. A request very necessary, as the consciences of Houston hackmen are none of the most tender.”²⁸

Reports in Weekly Telegraph on second and third days, reporting 10,000 people on the grounds and a confrontation involving Ed Quick, the “Radical editor from Austin.” (The first day was “Preparation Day.”)

An advertisement lists that year’s officers: S. S. Munger as President, F. A. Rice as VP, James Dumble as Secretary, and A. J. Burke as Treasurer; E. W. Taylor a Director.²⁹ In July 1872, Rice, E. W. Taylor, Munger, E. H. Cushing, B. A. Shepherd, C. C. Wiggin, J. F. Crosby, Thos. R. Franklin, and J. T. Brady chosen as directors.³⁰

After the fair, the Galveston Association announces its plan to make its grounds there “a place of pleasant resort for families” year-round: “There will be swings, croquet grounds, merry-go-rounds, shade trees … and ice cream and soda water stands for all. … In a word, it is the intention of the directory to combine a pleasure park with the Fair Grounds” and it is selling shares to fund the project.³¹