Milestones
1899– The Missouri State Fair was created on April 19,1899, by the 40th General Assembly.
1899– The State Board of Agriculture selects Sedalia Missouri as the location of the Missouri State Fair. The fairgrounds were to be built on 150 acres of land which had been donated by the Van Riper family.
1900– First appropriations of $15,000 for the start up fees of the Fair.
1901– The 41st General Assembly appropriated $50,000 for erecting buildings and establishing the site.
1901– First Missouri State Fair held on Fairgrounds for 5 days in September with 25,246 people attending.
1903– First permanent brick buildings built: Varied Industries @ $23,794; Commercial Building @ $22,799; FFA @ $14,000.
1906– Coliseum built at the cost of $70,000. 4-H Building for $16,000.
1909– The Wright Brothers provided daily exhibitions during the Fair.
1907– Twenty-four acres of ground adjoining the main entrance was purchased to provide free camping for fair visitors.
1910– Attendance reaches 100,000.
1911– President William Howard Taft attended the Missouri State Fair on Mule Day.
1921– The Fairgrounds served as the site for the State of Missouri Centennial Celebration. This special exposition was held during the fair. An opera company performed "The Pageant of Missouri" each night in the grandstand,depicting in song and dance the history of the state.
1933– The Board of Agriculture became the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the state fair board was abolished. From this date until January 1996 the Director of Agriculture through the Division of Fairs administered the fair.
1943 & 1944– No fair was held during these two years because of World War II.
1946– An additional 40 acres were purchased making the total acreage of the fairgrounds 276.
Early 1950’s– President Harry S. Truman visited the Missouri State Fair.
1952– The golden anniversary of the Missouri State Fair was marked with a tragedy when the fairgrounds were hit by a tornado at 1:20 a.m. on August 20. The storm centered on the midway area and a carnival employee was killed. Despite suffering extensive damage to all 60 permanent buildings on the fairgrounds, totaling almost $700,000, the fair was back in operation the following evening.
1950– Forty & Eight Railroad Car placed on the Missouri State Fairgrounds as a symbol of the friendship between France and the United States during world war II.
1957– For the first time in the fair's history a woman was named superintendent of the horse show. Mrs. Claude Drew, Columbia, head of equitation at Columbia College, was the "pioneer" superintendent.
1961– The Agriculture Building was built marking the first completely climatic controlled building on the fairgrounds.
1968– A modern 8,000 seat Grandstand was erected using 60,000 pounds of concrete and 50 miles of cold drawn high tensile wire steel at the cost of $509,000.
1969– The Youth Building, featuring a dormitory, cafeteria and show / sale arena was completed at the cost of $490,000.
1972– An 80' X 104' Shelter house was built on the 60-acre campground.
1972– Additional acres were purchased making the fairgrounds total 396 acres which is what it consists of today.
1974– A major rock music festival, The Ozark Music Festival, was held on the fairgrounds in the off-season.
1984– President Ronald Reagan made a speech in the Historic Coliseum during the Fair.
1988– An 86,000 square foot Exhibition Center with permanent seating for 3,155, expandable to 5,500 with portable seats, was opened costing $7.6 million.
1994– The Exhibition Center was named the James L. Mathewson Exhibition Center in honor of a local senator who was instrumental in garnering support for the Missouri State Fair in the General Assembly.
1994– Major renovations were made to several of the buildings to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act spending $1.5 million on the entire project.
1996– The Missouri General Assembly passed legislation creating a nine-member Commission to oversee the operations of the Missouri State Fair. The Commission members are appointed by the Governor with membership to be split between the two major parties and with the Director of Agriculture to serve as the ninth member.
1997– Missouri General Assembly earmarked funding for the development of a Master Plan.
1997– $1.5 million was spent on updating and improving the Fairgrounds’ storm and sanitary sewer system.
1998– Missouri State Fair Foundation was established. To preserve, improve and perpetuate the State Fairgrounds and State Fair for future generations of Missourians.
1998– Missouri State Fair Commission accepted the completed Master Plan.
1998– 9,600 square foot MO-Ag Theatre opened as an air-conditioned entertainment venue. The total construction cost was $280,000. MO-Ag Industries generously contributed $25,000 to the building’s construction.
1999– The 4,800 square foot Gerken Dairy Center is opened and dedicated in memory of the late Bud Gerken. Total building cost $352,000, this was a mix of public ($262,000) and private funds ($90,000 from the dairy industry.)
1999– Funding of $4.3 million approved by the Missouri General Assembly for the initial projects of the Master Plan.
2000– The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives’ Board of Directors donated $300,000 toward the construction of a new 9,600 square foot Media Center with the dedication and grand opening at the 2000 Missouri State Fair at a total cost of $950,000.
2000– The Missouri General Assembly approved funding for a new Missouri National Guard Armory to be built on the Fairgrounds. The building will include 12,000 square foot of space for Missouri State Fair Administrative Offices. The total project will cost approximately $7.5 million.
2001—The Historic Coliseum and Swine Pavilion renovated
2002—Fair Celebrates 100 Fairs of Fun. New Centennial Entrance opens. The bottom Floor of Woman’s Building was renovated for a Missouri State Fair Museum. Both the entrance and the museum were dedicated during the 2002 Fair. A New FFA Building was dedicated. This was the first building on the Missouri State Fairgrounds to be built totally through private donations. Funding for the new $425,000 facility was made possible by a joint effort between corporate donations and fundraising efforts from FFA Chapters across Missouri. The project was able to get off the ground due to a major financial pledge from Farm Credit Services. Other lead donors providing generous contributions were MFA Inc., MFA Oil and Septagon Industries.
2003 – New National Guard Armory and Administration Building open.
2004 – 379,063 people attended the 11-day Fair, making it the highest attended Fair in over a decade.
2004 – President George W. Bush made a speech in the historic Coliseum during a campaign stop.
2005 - The “Drought Buster” brought rain 9 out of the Fair’s 11 days.
2006 - Record-Breaking Sale of Champions
2007 - Triple digit temperatures were experienced making the buildings with newly installed air conditioning much appreciated.
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