Missouri State Archives
Ticket to the Past:
The First 25 Years of the Missouri State Fair

Worksheet
Teacher Key

1. Name one problem that Missouri was facing, which ultimately prompted the Missouri State Fair’s creation.
   Plight of Missouri Farmers or Ag youth leaving small towns for the city

2. Who introduced the bill that created the Missouri State Fair?
   Representative Cyrus F. Clark, Mexico

3. When was the Missouri State Fair created?
   April 1899

4. Where is the Missouri State Fair held? What other cities wanted to host?
   Sedalia — Centralia, Chillicothe, Marshall, Mexico, Moberly

5. What architects designed the fairgrounds?
   George E. Kessler and Thomas W. Bast

6. Who were Orville and Wilbur Wright?
   Flew first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

7. Name one attraction (group or type of performance) available at the Missouri State Fair in the 1920s.
   Opera, ballet, Koalhou Hawaiian Singers, “Bump-and-Fall Comedy Act,” among others

8. Name two types of competitions that took place at the Missouri State Fair.
   Live-stock, sewing, canned and baked goods, horse and mule shows, horse, dairy cow, and auto races

9. What “technological milestone” was introduced at the Fair as early as 1913?
   Automobile racing

10. Name one special feature of the 25 th State Fair.
    Multiple acceptable answers, see Page 11

11. How many people attended the 25 th State Fair?
    240,000