Ramsey County History – Spring 1974: “Minnesota’s Wandering State Fair and How It Settled in St. Paul”

Minnesota’s Wandering State Fair and How It Settled in St. Paul
Author: Gordon Hayes

People connived and schemed to get and keep the Minnesota State Fair for over 30 years from 1854 to 1885. The outcome represented a rare win for St. Paul in its rivalry with Minneapolis. The early fairs moved around: Minneapolis, Fort Snelling, St. Paul, even Rochester and, once, Owatonna. Some were successful, some not. Minneapolis businessman and fair booster William King did all in his power in the 1870s and early ‘80s to keep the fair from settling in St. Paul, going so far as to put on rival fairs in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis-St. Paul rivalry got in the way of a consistently successful fair. A compromise was sought in a site between and accessible to both cities. After much wrangling, a committee settled at last on the site of the Ramsey County Poor Farm, donated by Ramsey County to the State Agricultural Society. The fair has had a permanent home at this location since 1885.
PDF of Hayes article