Stockton Fair evolved from first event in 1857

First held in 1857, the Stockton Fair has undergone location changes, a disastrous fire, missed a few years, then returned with vitality and evolved into today's long-running premier event to showcase the county and its agriculture.

Capt. Charles Weber founded Stockton in 1847. With the 1848 gold discovery in the nearby Sierra, Stockton grew rapidly with the flood of fortune-seekers and was soon the fourth largest city in California. San Joaquin County's fertile soil became a major source of the agriculture products needed to feed the state's fast-growing population.

In 1857, the region's agricultural importance was recognized when the State Agricultural Fair elected to locate its traveling fair in Stockton. This annual fair, first started by the state legislature in 1854 and intended to be held in different locations each year, had previously been held in San Francisco and Sacramento. Proud residents wanted to show off their region's productivity.

The state fair was a four-day event in Stockton and by all accounts a "splendid success," according to Luisa Nella in her 2000 book Our Fair 1869-2000. The next year, the state fair moved to Marysville, and in 1859, the State Agricultural Fair established its permanent location in Sacramento. But the 1857 event whetted the appetite of San Joaquin County residents who wanted their own fair to highlight their agricultural products.

On Feb. 11, 1860, a district fair was formally established as the San Joaquin County Agricultural Society with membership from eight other counties. Erastus S. Holden, a young druggist and mayor of Stockton, led the effort and was named president. A number of vice-presidents and other officers were named from the county and outlying counties; among the vice presidents was David J. Staples of the Lockeford area.

The new society got a financial boost right away when Holden persuaded the county board of supervisors to donate $1,000 to the fair fund. The Stockton City Council followed with a $500 donation. In May 1860, the society bought 60 acres of land from Charles Weber, Stockton's founder, for $900, or $15 an acre at the southeast corner of Sharps Lane and South Street (today's fair location at Airport and Charter Ways). Weber, in turn, donated an additional 60 acres to be devoted to society's agricultural, horticultural and mechanical pursuits. The fair directors immediately built a one-mile racetrack for trotting horses and planned its first fair.

A large blue and white cloth-covered exhibit tent, 60 feet by 200 feet, was erected on Hunter Square, the open space next to the county courthouse in downtown Stockton. The fair's land was miles away from downtown, and so early events were held close to the population and transportation centers.

On Aug. 28, 1860, the Stockton Fair opened at 10 a.m. It was California's first permanently located county fair. That evening the city was illuminated with gaslights, and a festival atmosphere filled Stockton. The fair lasted four days.

One negative of the first fair was the dirt and dust that invaded the cloth pavilion and coated goods. Therefore in July 1861, the fair society, full of vision but not necessarily money, purchased a 75-foot by-150-foot lot on the east side of the courthouse and completed construction of a building, called the Agriculture Hall, before the second fair began on Sept. 10, 1861. Debt, the Civil War inflation and devastating 1862 flood followed by drought caused burdens in the following years for farmers and the fair.

Things improved in the next decade. In 1874, L. U. Shippee was elected president of the fair. He improved the racetrack by adding soil and built a grandstand.

In 1884, part of the fair was canceled when the association was unable to find a large hall for a pavilion exhibit. The next year the pavilion exhibit was again canceled. But there was horse racing and a tent erected near the track.

Shippee finally was able to push for a pavilion at a public meeting held in January 1887. The society came up with a plan to sell life memberships at $50 each. After $20,000 was raised, the society selected local architect Charles Beasley's plan for a huge pavilion building. The pavilion had a 38,400-square-foot ground floor with four wings of 80 feet by 100 feet facing four streets -- Washington, Hunter, San Joaquin and Lafayette. Dennis Burns accepted the $40,939 contract to build the wood and glass pavilion on May 10, 1887 and, with 100 men on the crew, the Grand Pavilion was completed in September.

When the fair opened that year, there was a log cabin built inside the Grand Pavilion. This cabin featured Lodi watermelons, then Lodi's most famous crop, and the exhibit was a big hit. The fair and its grand building was a success for the next 15 years.

The 1902 fair had finished its first week of festivities when disaster struck. At 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28, a fire started inside the closed Pavilion. The Pavilion was destroyed and all its contents, and the fire spread to nearby homes and buildings on the city blocks to the south and east. The fire left one firefighter dead, many injured and 68 families homeless. The fire ended the fair early that year, and no fair was held from 1903 to 1909.

However, Lodi held its Tokay Carnival in September 1907, and 8,000 Stockton residents, eager for a fair, attended.

The fair returned to Stockton with a small event in 1909, but it started up again with its traditional flair in 1910 with a "Back to the Farm" theme. But the fair lasted only three years.

In 1919, a new San Joaquin County Fair Board of Directors was organized. The fair was held at Oak Park with a temporary building and eight big tents.

The next year, fair organizers moved back to the agricultural park and a building program was started. By 1921 a new $60,000 building for exhibits was completed. That year George V. Beckman & Sons of Lodi exhibited his Poland-China boar that won the grand champion award. And John Thorpe of Lockeford showed his Jersey cow, also named grand champion.

In 1922, a huge L-shaped horse barn for 250 horses was built. The barn included an upstairs sleeping facility for jockeys, grooms and horse owners.

In 1929, fair president E. G. Vollman started junior exhibits with 4-H clubs, high school agriculture students and countywide young people under the age of 20. Among those youths were Verne Hoffman, Jr., Carrol Dow, the Beckman boys and Robert Handel.

In 1934, Lodi began having its own annual event called the Lodi Grape Festival. In 1941, the Lodi Grape Festival was officially designated as the San Joaquin County Fair, but it kept its original name and its original format to showcase only grapes. This designation allowed the Lodi event to get a share of state money. But the Stockton fair, sponsored by the Second District Agricultural Association of California, continues to be known as the San Joaquin County Fair.

Today, one can look back at the Stockton-based fair's long and diverse history, be thankful for the role it had in creating a better understanding among rural and urban people and look toward an always changing future.

Vintage Lodi is a local history column that appears the first and third Saturday of the month. Information for this article was taken from Luisa Nella's book Our Fair 1860-2000.

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Stockton Fair evolved from first event in 1857

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