B.O.H. #11: Old Fairgrounds Traditional Cache
B.O.H. #11: Old Fairgrounds
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(micro)
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On March 24, 1853, the Marion County Agricultural Society was founded and the first fair was held October 25 & 26, 1855. The fairgrounds were near Bryan Park here in Salem.
In 1857, the Marion County Agricultural Society received 12 acres for fairgrounds (presently Tully Park). The fair was held on those grounds until 1880 under the name of the Marion County Agricultural Society. Accounts of the fairgrounds say that it compared well with any other fairgrounds in southern Illinois. The amphitheatre could accommodate a thousand persons. There was an excellent half-mile dirt track. The fair was held each year until 1862 when it was cancelled because the troops of the 111th Illinois Volunteers were training on the fairgrounds. It was cancelled in 1887 due to drought and cinch bugs destroying crops. In 1896, it was cancelled because William Jennings Bryan was running for president.
In 1909, the Fair Association gave the fairgrounds to the City of Salem to be used as the City Park, now Tully Park.
These 12 acres had once been part of the John McGee Oglesby farm. John and Arena deeded this land to the fairground site to the Agricultural Society. They lived across the road in what was then one of the finest homes near Salem. In that time Shelby Street was known as the Charleston Road.
John came from Tennessee and for a few years drove a stagecoach from Salem to Vandalia for Mark Tully, owner of the Stagecoach Tavern at the present IGA property. John married one of Mr. Tully’s daughters, Arena and they went on to have seven children, one being our 3rd great grandfather Elisha. John was the fourth man to become judge of Marion County, and also served as one of the early sheriffs.
In 1906, their children requested the city honor Judge John Oglesby with a street named for him. And in 1913, Oglesby Street was opened running east/west from N. Shelby to N. Broadway through the town of Salem and the following year the old high school was built on the east end of this street.
So, as you travel through towns and follow the streets with unfamiliar names – pause and consider who the pioneers may have been and what deeds they may have performed.
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