History of the State Fair of Texas

Growing up in Dallas, the State Fair of Texas has always been an annual tradition enjoyed with family and friends. Even my friends from out-of-state timed their visits to Dallas, so they could check out what all the hoopla around the State Fair of Texas was about.

As a huge sports fan, the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas football teams was a major weekend in my life. One of my personal favorite memories as a youngster was getting the chance to watch Adrian Peterson of OU look like a man amongst boys out on the gridiron.

Although walking around the fair seeing so many obese people on motorized scooters gives me anxiety, the experiences of independence while running around with my friends as a teen are held near and dear to my heart. Most of my fair memories involve spinning round and round on rides without getting the vertigo that comes with age, riding rides with my eyes tightly shut and vocal cords strained due to my fear of heights, and trying desperately to get friends and random strangers to sit on a funnel cake. I still have a “Proud American” t-shirt with a 10 year old grease stain caused by the drippings of a turkey leg.

While I have my personal memories, I was curious about the history of the State Fair and how it came to be. Taken from excerpts found in Big B In Big D by David E. Perryman, below is a historical account of the origins of the State Fair of Texas that I thought y’all might be interested in.

In Dallas Rediscovered: A Photographic Chronicle of Urban Expansion 1870-1925, William L. McDonald calls the State Fair of Texas the “single most important instrument in maintaining Dallas’ position as the commercial and cultural center of North Texas.” The establishment of the State Fair of Texas in undoubtedly on of a handful of critical moments in the city’s history when business leaders seized an opportunity to elevate their town and its commercial activities to greater prominence. From its modest beginnings, the fair played a key role in bolstering the Dallas brand and spurring the city’s economic growth well into the twentieth century.

Feeling threatened by small fairs that had cropped up in Marshall, Sherman, and Waxahachie in the late 1850s, Dallas held its first fair in 1859. The event was created and managed by the Dallas County Agricultural and Mechanical Association. The inaugural fair was a four-day event that attracted some 2,000 people, many of whom came from surrounding towns. Farmers, ranchers, and implement manufacturers congregated at the event to buy, sell, and negotiate cattle; exchange new ideas, techniques, and lessons learned in the field; and place orders for machinery.

One year later, the fair of 1860 lasted five days and attracted some 10,000 people, representing a wider array of North Texas ranchers and farmers.

The fair resumed after the years of Reconstruction, post Civil War, in 1872, but it was not until 1886 when The Dallas State Fair and Exposition regained popularity. Running from October 26 through November 6, the association constructed new buildings, beautiful park, horse-racing track, paved streets and sidewalks, and capabilities for ample water supply. The effort and capital totaled $177,028 and months of preparation. Meanwhile, at the same time as the Dallas State Fair and Exposition, another group of wealthy farm implement dealers established the Texas State Fair featuring proper grounds for livestock showcasing, selling and purchasing. Both events were deemed successful, attracting nearly 38,000 people a day combined. The next year in 1887, the two groups merged to form the Texas State Fair and Dallas Exposition.

Then in 1900, J.B. Wilson, a wealthy cattleman, businessman, and real estate investor, stepped in and brought all the bonds from a creditor demanding payment, and a new corporation was chartered in April under the name the Texas State Fair.

Horse racing was a major draw and money maker for the Texas State Fair, but in 1902 horse racing was abolished (betting live on horse racing is still illegal in Dallas). Due to the financial strain and setbacks from the new laws, stockholders of the fair had a chance to sell the fair property for buyers who planned to convert the grounds into a new Dallas residential suburb. Thankfully the stockholders refused the offer and instead sold the Texas State Fair to the City of Dallas for $125,000, as they feared the state fair would have slipped away from Dallas if they sold to real estate developers.

In 1904 the City of Dallas incorporated the fairgrounds and hired George Kessler, who would become the father of city planning for Dallas, to replan and re-landscape the park. This transaction, after years of trials and tribulations, set the fair on the road to stability and even greater prominence, cumulating in its hosting the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition (drew more than 6M visitors and millions of dollars in new bank deposits) and continuing to this day.Harry L. Seay, one-time president of the State Fair of Texas, comments on the business benefits the event brought to Dallas. “The Citizens of Dallas visualized the great advantage the Fair would be to Dallas and this portion of the southwest. They knew the large number of people it brought to Dallas; they knew the increased number of purchasers it would supply to our merchants and our industries; and they had the vision to see that they were creating something that would do more towards building up Dallas than all other agencies combined.”

Since its inception, the fair has drawn tens of millions of visitors, infused billions of dollars into the local economy, and elevated the image and reputation of the city in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of out-of-town tourists and exhibitors. Today, the State Fair of Texas is the largest state fair in the country, contributing $360 million to the North Texas economy each year through ticket and concession sales on fairgrounds as well as food, drink, hotel, travel, and other revenues generated by out-of-town visitors.

*All content derived from excerpts found in Big B in Big D A History of Business in Dallas County by David E. Perryman

To purchase the book and learn more about our city, here is the link to buy through Amazon: Big B in Big D A History of Business in Dallas County