Historically Yours: Missouri General Assembly establishes a state fair
Elizabeth Davis
It began with Nicholas Hocker Gentry from Sedalia.
In 1897, he presented a resolution at the fifth annual Missouri Swine Breeders Association to ask the general assembly to establish a State Fair. Other associations followed with additional resolutions.
On Jan. 15, 1899, Representative Cyrus F. Clark introduced a bill to create a Missouri State Fair. With support from Gov. Lawrence V. Stephens, the bill passed in April.
Stephens was the son of Joseph L. Stephens who had been the recording secretary of the Missouri State Agricultural Society which organized the first three state expositions/fairs in Boonville in 1853-55.