The History of Orange County New York

by Unknown

In 1882 the fair was located at Middletown, where it remained three years, exceeding in magnitude of display all former ones. The record of over 1,100 membership fees received, and of 379 entries of horses the third year, have not since been broken.

The status of the society not being in harmony with the articles of association, at the annual meeting in 1884, new articles of association were adopted and signed, and a new certificate of incorporation and reorganization filed with the secretary of state and with the county clerk.

The next three fairs held at Newburgh witnessed such exhibitions of the results of industry and skill as had never before been seen in this county. The visit of Governor Hill in 1887, was the first time the society bad been honored with the presence of the chief executive of the State on its fair grounds.

In 1888 and 1889 the fairs were held at Goshen. The number of entries was fully up to the average of recent fairs, while the quality of the exhibits in several departments had never been better. At the first of these fairs the society was honored with an address by the Hon. Norman J. Coleman, United States Commissioner of Agriculture.

The semi-centennial fair at Port Jervis in 1890, and that of 1891, were in all respects, very successful. In the latter year the whole number of entries was 5,120, nearly 700 more than at any former fair. In the domestic department nearly 1,200 entries were made, evincing in many ways woman's inventive genius and patient industry. The exhibition of articles of historic interest has never been equaled in this county.

The society's second visit to Warwick was in 1892 and 1893. The presence of Governor Flower, with the 5th and 10th Separate Companies of Newburgh as his military escort, was a noteworthy event.

The fairs of 1894, 1895 and 1896, held at Newburgh, are said to have been the greatest the Society has ever held. The number of entries in certain classes will give some idea of its magnitude. Cattle, 272 entries; horses, 116; poultry, 1,502; bench shows, 208; mechanical, 238; grain and vegetables, 849; fruit, 1,144; flowers, 204; culinary, 310; domestic 990; miscellaneous, 223. Total in all classes, 6,084. The exhibition of school work not entered for competition was a revelation to thousands of visitors of the work now being done by the pupils of public, private and parochial schools.

After the fair of 1896, the managers of the society being unable to obtain a satisfactory lease of the grounds for a term of years, purchased the Campbell Track Grounds at Middletown, April 16, 1897. These grounds are well adapted to fair purposes, and when contemplated improvements are made they will compare favorably, in convenience and beauty, with any fair grounds in the State.

The last eleven fairs have been held on these grounds. They are events of such recent occurrence that historic interest does not yet attach to them. It may, however, be well to say that these eleven exhibitions have been in magnitude and excellence highly creditable to the society.

The society occupies a prominent place in the front rank of the agricultural societies of the State. Organized to promote agriculture, horticulture, the mechanic and household arts, it has not lost sight of these objects. During the sixty-eight years of its existence, in times of prosperity and seasons of adversity, in peace and in war, it has never failed to hold its annual fair. It is a society whose reputation is unblemished, whose honor is bright, whose record is clean; a society that has not sacrificed right for expediency nor won temporary success at the expense of principle; a society that has never repudiated its debts but has honorably discharged all its obligations; a society that has always paid its premiums in full and never paid them pro rata; a society whose fair grounds have not been noisy with the voices of fakirs, defiled with the devices of gamblers nor desecrated by immoral shows, but have been consecrated to legitimate exhibitions; a society whose management during the years that are gone has been such that no rival society (town or district) has ever been organized within the limits of the county, to sap the sources of its prosperity, limit the sphere of its operations, or lessen the extent of its influence—a fact without a parallel in the State.