Mack Park and Indiana County Fairgrounds
Several years before the American Civil War, small crowds gathered over a three-day period for farm-related competitions on land now occupied by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. One of those early competitions was a plowing match.
In spite of hardships, the gathering was repeated through the years and gradually became for many a celebration of agriculture, an occasion for family reunions, the social event of the year, the climax of summer -- the Indiana County Fair.
The Indiana County Agricultural Society was formed in 1855 and staged its first fair that year. The first was staged roughly where IUP's Stapleton Library and Fisher Auditorium now stand. Six acres of land had been purchased there from James Sutton, and buildings for livestock and a one-third-mile racetrack were built there. Seven more acres were later added, but by 1875 the agricultural society considered the property too cramped for a fair. The land was sold at auction and by 1891 was acquired by the Indiana Normal School, which eventually became IUP.
As a new site for its fair, the agricultural society in 1891 bought 39 acres of ground along Carter Avenue on Indiana's south side. The fairgrounds a century ago were arranged much differently than today. A 1903 fire insurance map shows the property's southern boundary was close to the back of the grandstand. Livestock barns were located at the top of the hill above the oak grove to the east, where the picnic pavilion, playground and parking lot are now.
In 1892, the first year the fair was held at the new location, the Round House, a three-story exhibition building, was constructed. It actually had 16 sides, was 80 feet in diameter and three stories tall and its windows were arranged to give the best light for exhibits. The Round House remained a prominent feature near the top of the oak grove hill until the mid-1950s, when it was dismantled. Also in 1892, John Hastings was awarded a contract for $2,150 to build a racetrack at the fairgrounds. The half-mile track was to be 50 feet wide and have two 600-foot straightaways. Eight teams of horses and 15 men started the work. The dirt track is now one of the oldest original features of the fairgrounds.
A grandstand -- the first of three that would be built on the same site -- was also constructed in 1892. It had seating for 1,100 spectators and a kitchen and dining hall under the seats.
About 1935, the Pennsylvania State Authority determined the fairground's water and sanitary systems needed drastic improvements, but in part because of the debt from the new grandstand, the water and sewage system improvements could not be afforded, and the old Indiana County Agricultural Society went bankrupt.
Edgar Mack, of McKeesport, and Indiana businessman and philanthropist John S. Mack acquired the property along Carter Avenue. A new organization, the Indiana County Fair Association, rented the property from the Macks and with only $200 capital revived the fair in 1937. The following year the association was chartered as a nonprofit corporation, positioning it to receive grants from the state.
In 1943 ownership of the fairgrounds property was turned over to the J.S. Mack Foundation, which has improved and maintained the property as a community center. It has ever since been the home of the Indiana County Fair.
BYOP