Of the officers then elected not one survives. So long has been the time that has passed, and so many and so great the changes that have taken place since its organization, that the management of the society is now in the hands of men, few of whom knew any of its founders. Although they were prominent men, well-known in their day and generation, even their names are not familiar to a majority of its members to-day.
The first fair was held at Goshen, November 17, 1841; and although it was very late in the season, and there had been but little time for preparation, it gave such general satisfaction that the success of the society was assured. The cattle, sheep and swine were shown on the grounds adjacent to the Presbyterian church; the horses were exhibited on Main street, and the other exhibits in the Old court house. Ninety-seven premiums were awarded amounting to $210, besides twenty-one agricultural periodicals.
The second fair was held at Goshen, October 12, 1842. The premiums offered amounted to $333, exclusive of thirty-five agricultural books and papers, distributed as follows: Farms, $45; cattle, $113; horses, $38; sheep, $31; swine, $8; butter, $44; agricultural products, $54. The county newspapers of that time said "The exhibition was in the highest degree creditable to the agricultural interests of the county. The people assembled in thousands to witness the exhibition, and thronged the streets in numbers equaled on but few occasions before. The exhibition of domestic manufactures graced the interior of the new court house."
The third fair was held October 4, 1843. Five thousand persons were estimated to have been in attendance. One hundred and thirteen premiums were awarded amounting to $325, besides twenty-eight publications. The following extract from the annual report of the president, Hon. Frederic J. Retts, is a reminder of changed conditions: "About thirty samples of butter were exhibited, and the committee of judges announced that twenty-six of the specimens they believed could not be beat in the world. In superlatives there is no comparative degree, and it is difficult to say, therefore, who stands first in such a category. Our wives and our daughters are our dairy-women, and while they so ably sustain the agricultural reputation of the county, Old Orange need have no fears for her rank as a farming county."
In 1846 the society for the first time held its fair on two days. In that year the first plowing match took place and was an interesting feature of the exhibition. Each competitor was required to plow one-fourth of an acre in seventy-five minutes, including two rests of five minutes each.
At the annual meeting in 1847, mainly through the efforts of the Newburgh members, the constitution of the society was so amended that the annual fair was thereafter to be held at Goshen every alternate year and the rest of the time at other places.
In 1848 it was held at Newburgh. The mechanical display was made on the porch of the court house, the grain and vegetables in the main hall, the fruit and domestic manufactures in the court room and within the railing, the horses were shown on Liberty street, and the cattle on a lot west of it. The plowing match took place on the farm of Captain Robinson. County Judge A. M. Sherman was one of the competitors—he held his own plow, performed his work in the shortest time, and received one of the premiums.
In 1850 the fair was held at Montgomery. The articles were exhibited under a tent, the cattle were loose in an adjoining field, the horses were shown on Union street; $95 were awarded in premiums on cattle, $57 on horses, $60 on sheep and swine, $14 on butter and $27 on plowing.
At Middletown in 1852, the fair grounds were located in the eastern part of the village and were known as the Ogden Track. At the suggestion of Colonel Israel H. Wickham (then president), the society had purchased a large tent, in which all articles were exhibited. Nearly all the cattle were tied to posts, and the horses for the first time were exhibited on a track.
The fourteenth fair was held at Chester.