The Early Days of the Big Fair

The Early Days of the Big Fair. . , The Allegheny County Fair started in 1846 as a plowing competition on William Martin's farm in Manchester Borough. Momentum grew in the community to organize an annual fair. The first official Allegheny County Fair was held in 1849 at the Market Square House in Allegheny City, which is now part of the City of Pittsburgh., The fair outgrew many locations before it finally settled in South Park in 1933 where it fficially became known as the Allegheny County Fair and Western Pennsylvania Exposition. The purpose of the fair was for farmers to take part in friendly competitions with their neighbors and to learn how to improve their own farm programs. Fair organizers were very proud that they were able to provide all entertainment without charging a fee., The county fair was suspended from 1942 until 1946 while the nation focused on World War II. New exhibits after the war included a farm machinery display, an industrial exposition and a scientific progress exhibition. These changes indicated that the country was moving towards science and technology., [Photo captions, top to bottom, read] , . A map of the 1938 fairgrounds. Catfish Run was renamed Corrigan Drive in 1938 in honor of Wrong Way Corrigan, a pilot who daringly completed a solo, nonstop flight from New York to Dublin without any of the required federal approvals. He claimed that a navigational error made him fly the wrong way over the Atlantic!, . Cover of the 1937 fair program., . A handler with her prize winning mules at the 1936 County Fair.