| Cape Girardeau County Fair & Park Association Stock Book |
| 1900-1914 |
| Extent: 1 item |
| Accession Number: 2006.022 |
| Abstract: Contains records of stockholders in the Cape Girardeau County Fair and Park Association from 1900-1914. |
| Processed by: Esther H. Bohnert, April 2008 |
|
Repository:
Special Collections and Archives, Southeast Missouri State University Phone: (573) 651-2245; Fax: (573) 651-2666; Email: semoarchives@semo.edu |
| Citation: Stock Book of Cape Girardeau County Fair & Park Association, 1900-1914, Special Collections and Archives, Southeast Missouri State University |
| Restrictions: None |
|
Related Collections: Southeast Missouri District Fair Association Programs |
| Provenance: Southeast Missouri District Fair Association Programs, 1908-1968. |
| Historical Note |
|
The Southeast Missouri
District Agricultural Society first was formed in 1855, serving 23
counties in the region. The first week in October was the date set for
the Cape Girardeau fair at the Bierworth’s farm, a wooded grove near
what is now South Frederick Street. That location was appropriated by
the United States for a campground for soldiers who were stationed at
Fort C, the site of the old St. Francis Hospital on the corner of
Pacific and Good Hope. All
the fair buildings were destroyed by the Army and after the Civil War
the old fairgrounds were unusable. In 1870, another piece of legislation revived the Agricultural Society; a fair was held the same year on a new site near old Gordonville Road and Highway 61 South. Soon two more additions of acreage, fifty and one hundred acres, were purchased for the fair, but by 1897 interest had declined to the point where the association was disbanded and the fairgrounds were sold to the Blattner family. A new association called the Cape Girardeau Fair and Park Association was formed in 1900 and forty acres were purchased in what is now Capaha Park. This location served the fair from 1900-1929. The First World War and the Great Depression again interfered with the fair and led to the dissolution of the board and the disbanding of the fair. Ten years later the Southeast Missouri District Fair Association was organized. The location of the present-day fair is owned by the City of Cape Girardeau and the Fair Association together. The fair is organized by volunteers, governed by a board of directors, and is funded by proceeds from gate admissions, grandstand tickets, and sponsors; the fair is a member of a number of fair associations which provide information for the betterment of the institution[1]. |
| Scope and Content Note |
| Contains records of stockholders in the Cape Girardeau County Fair and Park Association from 1900-1914. Names of individuals or businesses, number of shares purchased, and dates are listed in this ledger. Also included here is a sheaf of loose-leaf material such as Treasurer’s Reports for the City of Cape Girardeau for 1909, a typewritten list of shareholders in the Fair and Park Association for 1900-1914, a letter from the city clerk to the city treasurer in 1909 concerning discovery of errors made by the past treasurer, and a handwritten list of stockholders. |
| Archivist Note: Book is marked with the numbers 2022 R, which was how they were originally catalogued in the Archives. |
| Rules or Conventions: Finding aid prepared using DACS |
