KNOXVILLE'S OLD FAIR GROUNDS

Ron Allen

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Some years ago, I decided to make an attempt to specifically locate what is referred to as Knoxville's Old Fair Grounds. At the same time, I thought it would be interesting to find out something about those grounds, since the subject seems to sometimes stir up interest and curiosity among some folks. How often were Fairs held there? When did those Fairs begin, and how many years was this the site of a Knoxville fair? What other events, if any, took place at the site ? Those and other questions were on my mind as I sought that information. I've managed to find the answers to most of my questions.

Knoxville's first Fair took place following the establishment by the State of Tennessee Department of Agriculture of County Fairs throughout the state, including the funding for "Premiums" - - the money for prizes to those who won awards in a whole series of judging, in such categories as cotton, cattle, swine, sheep, orchard crops, wine, cotton yarn, saddles and other leather goods, poultry, etc. A Committee consisting of J. G. M. Ramsey, James Campbell and Charles McGhee were appointed East Tennessee Fair Commissioners by Governor Andrew Johnson. The Committee procured the one thousand dollar appropriation from the state, Directors were appointed, committees were formed, and a suitable place to hold the Fair was chosen. The first East Tennessee Division Fair was held in Knoxville, on October 25 and 26, 1854.

The Fair was considered a great success. The total receipts for the original two day East Tennessee Division Fair in Knoxville was $1,432.00, including the aforementioned state contribution of $1,000.00, the remainder from entry fees and gate receipts. F. S. Heiskell, President of the Knox County Agricultural Association, gave a speech at the Fair, as did Ex Governor Aaron V. Brown. Both speeches are reproduced in the Report and Proceedings of the Department of Agriculture, published in Nashville in 1856. In his remarks, Heiskell offered the opinion that "it may be many years before we can hold another Fair in Knox County". He was obviously correct. That place, the location of which is described below and which was already being called the "Old Fair Grounds" by the beginning of the Civil War, wasn't the site of another Fair in Knoxville until 1870.

William G. Brownlow provided a detailed report following that Fair, in his Knoxville Whig. The date of that issue is shown erroneously in that newspaper as October 8, 1854, but the actual date was October 28, 1854. Included among Brownlow's comments is the revelation that the old "Parson", still considered by some as sometimes having been a mean-streaked old curmudgeon, apparently decided that as long as he was visiting the Fair he would spend some of his time in the age-old tradition of girl-watching, as was obvious in his column in the Whig, when he wrote : " a newspaper editor must quaff deeply of the waters of a poet's spring, and teach his pen to trace characters of light and life, to do justice to the charming loveliness of East Tennessee's fairest daughters who, in all their proud entrancing beauty, graced the scene on each day. Their presence alone, had the weather not been delightful as it was, would have rendered the fair grounds irresistibly attractive to any but a hateful old bachelor, or a wretched misanthrope". The Whig report mentions the speeches that were delivered, includes a long list of the premiums awarded, and concludes with Brownlow's opinion that "... the Fair has exceeded our most sanguine expectations, and has been a good beginning. If followed up in a proper spirit, as we have no doubt it will be, it must result in great good for East Tennessee - - improving the Stock and the Farming interests - - and contribute largely towards developing the vast resources of this end of the state".

The location of the Old Fair Grounds was just east of the Five Points section of East Knoxville. The southern edge of the grounds was at the south end of the area where a residential addition called Strong and Thompson's Addition was developed later in the late nineteenth century. When that area was developed, a crescent-shaped street, south of Selma Avenue, connecting with Cherry Street on the east and Chestnut Street on the west, was named Crescent Boulevard, and that same general area was called "The Corso". That street still exists today, now called South Cherry Street, the semi-circular street at the south end of Cherry and Chestnut Streets. The Old Fair Grounds were located northward from that point, primarily between Cherry Street on the east and Olive Street on the west, and from just south of Selma and north to Rutgers (long known as McCalla, now M. L. King Blvd.) The streets in that area are (or were) as follows ; from south to north, Selma ; Bell (Wilson) ; Louise ; Rutgers (McCalla / M. L. King Blvd.) ; Virginia (Parkview) ; Linden ; and Magnolia : from east to west, Cherry ; Chestnut ; Spruce ; and Olive. (Parham Street, between McCalla and Wilson, did not exist at that time.)

The grounds became the site of a soldier's recruitment camp during the Civil War. Following the war, the Fair was revived in 1870, at the same site. An amphitheater and a new race track were built for the Eastern Division Fair at the site. A. C. Bruce was the architect of the newly constructed Fair Grounds building, and a detailed description of the new Fair Grounds Amphitheater, together with a plan of the building, appeared in the Chronicle on August 23, 1870. The amphitheater was 180 feet long and two stories high and had a canopy, "located in the center, from which a fine view of the race track and the entire grounds can be obtained". The new race track was one mile in length and forty feet wide. The dedication of the new amphitheater was held September 24, 1870. Two thousand people were reported to have been in attendance at the Fair Grounds dedication ceremonies.

Fairs continued to be held annually at the Old Fair Groundsthrough 1875. Then, whether through lack of interest, financial considerations, or other unknown factors, the activity was curtailed from 1876 through 1878. The final Fair held at the Old Fair Grounds was in the fall of 1879. That year it was not promoted as a "Fair", as in earlier years, but as a Stock Show, or Stock Exhibition. That event was sponsored by the local horse racing organization, the Knoxville Driving Association, and horse racing was again a principal activity.

Later in the nineteenth century, the site of East Knoxville's Old Fair Grounds was still being used, but for other functions, such as picnics, recreational games, and similar types of activities, an example being found in the Journal on June 18, 1886, when it was reported that an outing was held by the Mabry Street Church ... " James Henry, who had made arrangements for a two day jubilee celebration for colored children at the Old Fair Grounds, was on hand and carried out part of the first day's programs". On October 18, 1894, the Barnum and Bailey's Circus, "The Greatest Show on Earth", exhibited at the Old Fair Grounds.

Reviewing newspaper advertisements and accounts of some of the circuses that exhibited in Knoxville in the 1890's tends to create confusion with reference to the terminology used at that time concerning the Old Fair Grounds. Some of those articles and ads refer to a site on Bell Avenue as the Old Fair Grounds. At that time, another location was the site of such activities, located on Bell Avenue, nearer the city. The street where the original fair grounds site was located was still called Rutledge Pike, but the extension of Jackson east of Central was then called Hardee, and the extension of Hardee east from First Creek to Olive street was known as Bell Avenue. The grounds on Bell Avenue were apparently near First Creek, and not at the original fair site beyond Five Points. I am unable to determine why reporters in those times would have referred to the Bell Avenue site the "Old Fair Grounds", although it is known that circuses had been held at that site in the early 1890's. But I have found no evidence that any "Fair" was ever held at the Bell Avenue grounds, thus the reason writers would have referred to that site as the Old Fair Grounds in those times remains a mystery. It would perhaps be simpler to merely ignore those references when describing the locations of the Old Fair Grounds, but such descriptions found in late nineteenth century newspapers do tend to cloud the issue.

As already mentioned, by the lateer nineteenth century much of the Old Fair Grounds site had become a residential area. However, a field in the western portion of the section had then become a baseball park, called Brewer's Park, where amateur baseball teams played gaames in the Knoxville City League, and one season Knoxville's professional baseball team, the Appalachians, played a few of its games at the site. By 1915, Brewer's Park had become primarily a playing field for African Americans.

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