This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Watertown Inter-County Fair Association
1905-1927
1905
Watertown Daily Times, 03 15 1905
At city hall Monday
evening was held a mass meeting to discuss the advisability of organizing a
Fair organization of Watertown. It was
the unanimous opinion of those present that an annual Fair was desirable for
our city and it was the sense of the meeting that the matter should be pushed
to a successful issue. E. E. Grube (should be H.
G. Grube) ... gave the assurance that the Watertown
Driving Park Club would be willing to turn in its property to a fair
association if such an organization were formed. This property includes the
half mile track, buildings, fences, etc., now on the driving club's grounds in
the Seventh ward.
1924
Watertown Daily Times, 1924
When the project of a
county fair for Watertown was broached Herman Grube was one of its ardent
supporters and helped in many ways to launch it to a successful issue.
He had been
previously identified with the Watertown Driving Association, which was merged
with the fair association, and was elected treasurer of the Watertown
Inter-County fair, which position he held during the first three years,
relinquishing the office owing to stress of other duties connected with the
fair.
1905
Watertown Daily Times, 03 28 1905
A second meeting of
those interested in the establishment of a fair association in this city was
held last Thursday evening, and was well attended. S. E. Woodard presided and Charles Mulberger acted as secretary.
The report from the
special committees appointed was most encouraging, and it was decided to push
the work with all possible speed and hold a fair this year. The work of
soliciting stock subscriptions will begin at once. It will be necessary to
raise about $7000 in addition to what will be turned over to the association
from the driving club, but this will not be hard to secure, as when the
previous organization was being effected about three years ago, fully that
amount was raised in a short while, but the project fell through.
The above named will
be used for the construction of a fence, exhibit buildings and stables, etc.,
and a portion of it will be used to advertise the fair and pay current
expenses.
1905
Watertown Daily Times, 05 17 1905
A committee of the
Watertown Inter-County Fair Association has started to solicit stock
subscriptions and will call on the business people for amounts varying
according to their means. Another committee has secured several thousand
dollars and it now remains for the businessmen of the city to make up the
balance so that a fair next fall may be assured . . . As soon as the
subscriptions are all in a date can be set and the work of advertising the fair
commenced.
1905
Watertown Daily Times, 06 15 1905
The prospects for the
success of the Inter-County Fair which will hold its first meeting September
19-22 continue bright. It is surprising and at the same time gratifying to the
officers of the association to note the great interest evinced by the general
public over this event. Farmers from neighboring towns are more than pleased
and the great crowd in the city Tuesday kept the fair officials busy answering
questions propounded.
Secretary Charles
Mulberger states that the premium list is now being arranged and the racing
events will be the best that can be secured in Wisconsin. The total purses will
aggregate $4500, which will not fail to draw some fast racers. In the way of
other amusements, Secretary Mulberger is arranging for some high-priced
features which are entirely new and novel, and will give the inter-county a
great reputation from the start. The evening free attractions will be no less interesting
and a good sum for this purpose has already been pledged. Watertown is able to
accommodate without inconvenience the large crowds which will come to the city
on this occasion.
1905
Derived from Watertown Remembered
In 1905, at the
prodding of Mayor Herman Wertheimer, the Watertown Intercity (or Inter-County)
Fair Association launched another series of successful annual fairs on the
spacious grounds south of the Armory. Besides the usual exhibitions, the fair
offered something for everybody. You could buy cream candy, rubber balls on
strings, gyroscopes, glass fountain pens, have your fortune told and your
picture taken on tintype, or see a real motion picture, the "Great Train
Robbery." At
1906
Watertown Daily Times, 09 12 1906
This is the season of
the year when people's fancies turn to the subject of fairs. This portion of
the state has a goodly number of them which are taking place now or will within
the next week or two and interest in them grows as the time approaches. It is
at these annual fairs that the farmer proudly exhibits the fine stock and
grains he has raised the past year and his wife's butter and prize jellies of
the culinary department of the household. It is this feature of the fairs that
really accomplishes the most good, for it educates the farmer and his wife, but
then their value and social affairs must also be given much credit.
City people, too,
take a continued if not growing interest in fairs, even though their nature has
been changed somewhat from the spectacular shows that once were with horse
races the chief features.
1906
Watertown Daily Times, 09 13 1906
Late developments
have gone to show that the speed program of the Watertown Inter-County fair
next week will be an unqualified success. The entries yesterday poured in at a
lively rate and Secretary Mulberger is jubilant and now assures all that the
race program will be one that will have no superior in the state. There will be
a large field of horses, including many of the best in this country. Last
evening, thirty-one entries had been made in the pace and trot events, to say
nothing of the running races that are scheduled for each day. Horsemen know a
good thing when they see it; therefore many are to take advantage of the
liberal purses that are offered by the association for the various events.
1907
Watertown Daily Times, 09 28 1907
The Watertown
Inter-County fair came to a close last evening after having had a very
successful week. Despite the unfavorable weather of Tuesday and Wednesday.
Despite the unfavorable weather conditions the first of the week, the fair
officers are satisfied that it was no worse and they feel quite well satisfied
with the way things turned out. The rains and threatening aspect of the skies
no doubt debarred many from going to the grounds. Nevertheless, the fair was a
big success from the standpoint of attendance and entertainment.
Yesterday, the
attendance was not as large as was anticipated it being estimated that about
3,000 people were on the grounds. It is also estimated by the management that
about 30,000 people visited the fair during the last three days.
1908
09 04 Arrangements
practically completed for the 1908 Inter-County fair WG
09 18 A
great success. WG
Watertown Remembered
When
the Interurban Railway came to Watertown in 1908,
it laid tracks down
In
that same year the Interurban made an attempt to bolster its failing business
by opening a fine new depot on
The
ride to Milwaukee was much more pleasant than it had been on the old trolleys.
But the Interurban could not compete with the automobile, and it followed the
fair into oblivion in 1940.
The
T.M.E.R.& L., as it was called (The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light
Company), had come to Watertown 32 years before, in 1908. It once ran the
length of
1920
Watertown Fair: September 21, 22, 23 and 24. Bigger and Better Than Ever. 09 14 WG
1930s
Troop
K 105th Cavalry (part of the National Guard) boarded horses
at the old fairgrounds on the city's south side.
__________________________________________________________
Old History Remnants Recovered
1999
Watertown Daily Times, 04 10 1999
City workers are
currently in the process of a road building project on the south side that has
unearthed a little smattering of old history.
The crews are
constructing a new roadbed on Utah Street south of Boomer Street. That new
section of road is badly needed. The existing pavement was in pretty tough
shape and drainage was poor. This short dead end street serves Wisconsin Auto
Parts, Badger Car Wash and Holz Motors.
Well, while the crews
were digging up the roadbed, they found a bunch of old railroad ties.
Those ties are all
that's left of the old branch line of the interurban, known formally as The
Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company (TMER&L).
The interurban or
TMER&L was a trolley car system from Milwaukee to Watertown, with other
branch lines going south to Kenosha and north to Sheboygan. Service came to
Watertown on July 31, 1908, and ended rather quietly on Feb. 1, 1940, a victim
of the popularity of the automobile.
These old ties which
were dug up really brought back memories of a lesser known part of the
interurban history.
By the time the
interurban arrived on July 31, 1908 for the first time, the railway owners had
already set their sights on extending the line all the way to Madison. Rights
of way had been purchased and the tracks were laid south of the city's business
district to the intersection with the Chicago and North Western tracks and
station. The plan was to extend it all the way to Madison in the very near
future, and it was to have been done on private, rather than public, right of
way. But it never materialized.
In addition to that
plan, the owners had other ambitious ideas. The tracks were laid south along
South Second Street, and along what is now the
sliver of land between Highway 26 south and Utah Street.
The terminal was the
former Grinwald Ford dealership at Second and Market streets, so that track
extension seemed pretty logical.
The immediate need
was to service the intercounty fair, but the ultimate goal was to have the
service extend south to the county seat in Jefferson.
Site of the
intercounty fair, always held the third week of September, was the general area
of the Watertown National Guard Armory, the Watertown Municipal Airport, and
the three businesses we mentioned above.
That track was
installed and grading was even completed about a mile south of the fair stop. But,
again, there never was an effort to get the tracks all the way to Jefferson. It
became too expensive, especially with the growing competition from the
automobile.
Our records show that
as late as 1934 tracks were still in place out to the intercounty fair, and
maybe it was even longer. No doubt what was dug up there this week are the
remaining ties of a once very busy line.
The round trip cost
to the intercounty fair from any interurban stop in Watertown was five cents.
What a bargain!
A map of the tracks
show the branch continued south on Second Street, under the Milwaukee Road (now
Canadian Pacific) tracks and then at Second and Hyland streets, there were
several turnoffs probably used to store extra cars.
Then the track
traveled adjacent to River Drive which was the old highway at the time. There
was double track, presumably a passing siding from the approximate location of
Stimpson Street at River Drive south to Mary Street where it again became
single track.
Image
Portfolio
Click to enlarge
|
Inter County Fair
horse race |
1909, Crowd
arriving at fairgrounds via Interurban fair line |
1910, Inter Country
Fair 300 block E Main |
1913, Inter County
Fair advertisement |
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1914,
Inter County Fair advertisement |
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