The Cecil County Fair in Elkton

The Cecil County Fair, which opened for the first time on Oct. 13, 1880, in Elkton, was organized in a whirlwind of activity.  In just a quarter of a year, organizers accomplished daunting tasks such as acquiring fairgrounds and preparing the property to receive thousands of visitors. 

Once Cecil’s agriculturalist incorporated the Cecil County Agricultural Society earlier in 1880, the first order was to raise money, so the managers sold stock valued at $10 a share.  Organizers put the shares at this low value so that every tenant farmer in the county could have a voice in the management of the society, newspapers reported.

Encouraging farmers to support the agricultural society, one newspaper remarked that, “the entertainment that will be awakened among our farmers and the information that will be acquired by the comparison of stock, agricultural products, and methods and experience must constitute a value that can be measured in dollars and cents.” 

Once the Society raised sufficient money, the organizers purchased 27-acres of land owned by A. G. Tuite on Elkton’s northern edge, right next to the railroad depot (Railroad Avenue today).  This expansive parcel stretched along the west side of North Street from the north of Railroad Avenue to part of what is now Elkton Heights. 

It was a most convenient location, only 300 yards from the Railroad Station.  Visitors in the cars weren’t required to seek conveyance to the grounds.  Proceeding at what must have seemed like a dizzying pace, the ground was promptly broken as fences, a race track and structures were built.  One of the most notable exhibit buildings, Mitchell Memorial Hall, opened for the fifth season in 1884.

After that, in early autumn, thousands of people poured into the fairgrounds at Elkton.  In 1887, the Morning News reported that over 14,000 people were admitted at the gates to see the exhibits, examine the agricultural products, look at new farming equipment, listen to talkative politicians, enjoy the delicacies of the food concessions, and attend the races.

After over a long run of successful years, criticism of racing and gambling at the fair started growing.   “A county fair should not be made a place where young people may be tempted into so ruinous a vice as gambling.  Whatever may be said of pool selling as a feature of horse racing, certainly there is no connection between the legitimate purpose of a county fair and such gambling layouts as those which have trapped the unwary at Elkton (News Journal Sep 13 1895).  About this time the state legislature starting threatening “race-track gamblers and outlaw race tracks with laws to prevent gambling (Philadelphia Times, Feb. 28, 1898).

The last fair, the nineteenth one, took place in September 1898.  Up to almost the last minute the following year, people eagerly anticipated the big annual event so it was a  “great surprise” when it was declared off on Sept. 27, 1899.  “The lack of interest by the people of Cecil County compelled the managers to take action and announce to the public that the Elkton Fair” was a thing of the past (Morning News, Sept. 28, 1899).  The Whig remarked, “The immediate cause of discontinuing the annual exhibitions was the general public’s lack of interest in them,” The Cecil Whig reported on Feb. 10, 1900.  When the Society tallied up the balance sheet, the assets were $6,928 while the liabilities were $17,708.

A broader perspective on why the fair ceased to be a drawing card was delivered by the Evening Journal on Oct,. 6, 1900.  The “Elkton Fair starved to death, although sustained artificially by a time by the men who conducted a nest of outlawed race tracks and used the fair grounds at intervals for gambling and racing purposes.”    

Cecil County Fair Starved to Death

The Cecil County Fairgrounds was sold under the auctioneer’s hammer at the courthouse door on Feb. 6, 1900 to satisfy a mortgage held by the Mutual Building Association.  The real estate included 27 acres of land, a half-mile racing track, a grandstand with seating for 1,200,  judges’ stand, Mitchell Hall, and cattle and other shedding, were sold on Feb. 6.

 “The passing of the Cecil County Fair, which years past has attracted thousands of people together annually, is to be much regretted by the residents of Cecil County,” reported the Middletown Transcript .  “The grounds were adapted for fair purposes, situated along the railroad.  Here annually gathered together people from all parts of Cecil County and from Chester County, Pennsylvania and from Delaware.  The people of the county were proud of their fair, which was at one time was considered second to none in this part of the country (Feb. 17, 1900).

George R. Ash, the editor of the Cecil Democrat, acquired the property for $8,400, less than one-third of the original cost (The Times, Philadelphia, Feb. 07, 1900).  The editor sold the old fairground to the Elkton Improvement Company for $10,000 in June 1900.  This Company was established to convert the property into building lots.   

 As a new century moved along memory of this annual happening started fading into the twilight.

For additional photos of the Cecil County Fair in Elkton, see this post on the Cecil County History Facebook page.