Walworth County, Wisconsin - Chapter 14: Walworth County Agricultural Society, 1912

Chapter 14: Walworth County Agricultural Society

Within less than fifteen years after the end of the Pottawattomie occupation, a few men of mind and will and of some weight in the affairs of their towns, mainly farmers of the Troys and adjoining towns, combined to form, or develop, a county agricultural society, and thence a yearly county fair. Most of these men lived long enough - and worked as long as they lived - to see the infant enterprise of 1850 move in orderly progress, without halt or backward step, to the foremost place among similar societies of the state. Of these men the names of Homer and Seymour Brooks, Jacob and William Burgit, Simon Buel Edwards and Emery Thayer, of East Troy; John Fearnley, Albon Mann Pern,- and Augustus Smith, of Troy; Sherman Morgan Rockwood, Jesse Pike West and Stephen Gano West, Sr., of Lafavette; Perry Green Harrington, of Sugar Creek, and Edward Elderkin, of Elkhorn, are preserved. No other record is found of work done previous to the fair and cattle show opened at East Troy October 16, 1850. The day was showery, but the attendance was encouraging. The plowing matches were postponed to the 25th. Thirty-five first premiums, seventeen second premiums, and three third premiums were awarded. Of these, nineteen first premiums went to citizens of East Troy : William Bates, James Booker, Tosiah F. Brooks (3). Homer Brooks (2), Jacob Burgit, S. Buel Edwards, Charles Hillard, Cephas Hurlburt, Mrs. John A. Larkin, S. McNair. Michael O'Regan, Joel Pond, Elijah Pound. Walter A. Taylor. Emery Thayer (2). To men of Troy, five first premiums ; Hiram Brew ster, William Lumb, John J. ( >lds. I'aris Pettit, Augustus Smith. Other first premiums were awarded to Franklin Kelsey Phoenix, of Delavan ; Charles W. Smedley, of Hudson ; William Child, of Lafayette: James Lauderdale, of Lagrange. Mr. Phoenix displayed twenty-five varieties of apples and a noteworthy entry- of garden stuff. Josiah F. Brooks sold two bulls, brought from New York, one at two hundred and ten dollars, the other at one hundred and fifty dollars.

The officers of this fair were Augustus Smith, president, and Seymour Brooks, secretary. Before dispersing, the members chose officers and managers for the coming year. In April, 185 1, a meeting was held at Elkhorn, and the whole county was brought explicitly within range of the society's activities. A premium list was made, and the fair appointed at Elkhorn, October 14th and 15th. The society met in the evening of the 15th for adoption of a constitution and election of officers and three managers, all to act as an executive committee. Article eight, of the constitution, fixed the place of holding the fair at Elkhorn. But in 1853 it was held at Delavan. Article nine prescribed the fast evening of each fair as the time for electing officers. In 1852 the number of managers became five.

August 19. 1853, Samuel Pratt resigned as manager and Colonel Elderkin was chosen in Ins stead. Mr. Hollinshead moved, and it was ordered, to hold the fair at Delavan, Sepi ember 23d and 24th. A committee of arrangements for this purpose was appointed, all of Delavan town and villager Aaron H. Taggart, Ira P. Larnard, Charles T. Smith, William Hollinshead, Jonathan Williams, Cyrus Brainard. David Williams was made marshal, with Dr. Norman L. Gaston and Nicholas M. Harrington as assistants. September 23d, election of officers. Ordered that executive committee procure one or more competent persons to address the people on one of the fair days.

September 2j, 1855, the constitution was so amended as to require nine managers, besides the four principal officers. September 11, 1856, Hon. James R. Doolittle, of Racine, delivered the annual address.

September 25, 1857, the members of the society met in accordance with article nine, of its constitution, and passed the following resolution : "That the election of officers of this society be postponed till the first Wednesday in January, 1858, and at that time said election shall be held in the court house at Elkhorn."

January 6, 1858, Treasurer Hodges reported as the receipts of the fair of 1X57 the sum of eight hundred thirty-nine dollars and fifty-five cents. The amount on hand after paying premiums was two hundred and fifty-seven dollars. Land had been bought of Colonel Elderkin in 1855 for a permanent fair ground on a time contract running ten years, with interest at ten per cent. This meeting ordered payment of two hundred and fifty dollars on this contract. Colonel Elderkin was directed to go to Madison to collect for the society the state's yearly appropriation of one hundred dollars in aid of count) fairs, then amounting to two hundred dollars. If allowed and paid, the sum \va> to he applied to payment for land- If nut collected, he was to draw a suitable memorial, asking the Legislature fur relief. Wyman Spooner, Horatio S. Winsor and Edward Elderkin were appointed to examine : titution and records to find if the societj was so organized as to enable n 1- hold real estate, ami they were directed to reporl at the nexl meeting. Mr. Elderkin, then one ol the secretaries, was ordered to l>u\ a record hook and transcribe therein the constitution, by-laws, and the whole record of the society's proceedings. The acts of the annual meetings of the society and of its several executive committees for sixty years, as recorded, have not yet filled the book thus begun by Colonel Elderkin, though it is not an unusually large one of its kind. Its contents hardly present more than a fairly traceable outline of the society's history and rate of growth.

This is in part explained by the fact that in this, as in many organizations for other purposes, it has been found convenient to add many executive functions to the secretary's duty as a recorder of proceedings in session of society and committee. For many years following 1865 this so variously useful officer has seemed to persons outside of the management to combine in himself the executive, legislative and judicial power of the society. The later creation of minor superintendencies has not made the secretary's duties much less diversified. For many years the officers were paid little or nothing above their expenses. The secretary now receives $400, the treasurer $250, the president $100 (by act of the session of 191 1). the superintendent of privileges $75, the marshal $40. Members of executive committee are paid for one day's service, two dollars each. The working force, other than those just mentioned, at the last fair was 160 persons: Under the superintendent of the ground, 12; police, 29: treasurer's office, 18; secretary's office, 8; at gates and amphitheater, 23; in floral hall, 22; in speed' department, 14: judges for premium awards, 34. Their total pay, $1,355.71. Since the fair of 1909 there was paid to laborers and repairers employed in care of the ground, in the course of one year, $629.10; for permanent improvements, $77^-37; for insurance, $233'.75- The total receipt for 1910 was $19,147.73, of which sum $293.79 was ^e balance on hand from 1909, and $2,200 was received from the state treasury pursuant to provisions of statute in aid of county fairs. In January, 191 1, the unpaid liabilities amounted to $65.62. These paid, and the state's aid received (usually in February), the society sets out for the year with $3,404.40. The sum of trotting purses paid was $4,760; sum of premiums paid, $4,072.75.

The fair of 185 1 was held along Church street, south of the park, southwestern part of the village. One or more fairs were held on the park, [n 1855 the society began to buy land for a permanent fair ground. The place chosen was (and is) well within the village limits, in one of the Elderkin additions, a few rods from the point at which the Spring Prairie road meets Court street. The certainty that the railway, then building from Racine toward Sunset, would reach Elkhorn within the next year had some el'lVd on Colonel Blderkin's mind as to the coming values of village real estate though he stopped a little short of extravagance in his valuation of the six acres sold to the society. He let it go at one hundred dollars per acre, giving ten years for payment, and accepting ten per cent interest. The society now owns and occupies a fraction more than thirty-nine acres. About fifty or sixty rods further northeastward the branch railway to Eagle, curving along the eastern side of the ground, crosses the highway at an acute angle. It seems the society's manifest destiny to acquire this triangular space - about six and onehalf acres - within a few months or years. By two extensions southward the old village cemetery, having been vacated by special statute, was added, giving a Court street frontage of twenty-two rods. A few groups of second-growth oaks and other trees give a parklike effect to this part of the ground, and a few lawn seats make it at present an attractive resting place for tired visitors.

During the four days of the fair the railway supplies special trains, and the attendance, gathering from distant counties of Wisconsin and Illinois, has been computed variously at from twenty thousand to thirty thousand. When the fair week falls in dry weather, as it usually does, the dust-laden air along the several highways of the county, to one who has seen this sign of great armies in motion, is a reminder of the summer campaigns of the Civil war. For most of the morning hours the procession of vehicles headed for the white city inclines one to wonder if anybody stays at home in this holiday week.

In [879 Henry G. Hollister. vice-president for the previous year, was chosen president of the society, and, thereafter, with two exceptions, such order of succession lias been the usage. The vice-presidents thus declining < >r passed over were Benjamin T. Fowler in [884 and Hiram S. Bell in 1894. Ebenezer Davidson has, since 1879. twice reached the presidency by way of the present order of promotion.

Vice-Presidents

Until 1866 it was usual to elect two secretaries sometimes, assigning one to the duty of recording and the other to the division of correspondence. After Mr. Carpenter - a young lawyer who lived a few months at Elkhorn - Mr. Latham served as corresponding secretary- until 1866, when the two secretaryships were united in one officer.