Michigan State Fairgrounds to Close

An open letter from Christopher Ewing

As many of you may have heard, the Governor of Michigan has decided to close the Michigan State Fairgrounds, the nation's oldest state fair.  This year's fair will be the last one.  Over the past several weeks, all of the businesses here (hockey, football, golf, equestrian and others) have been told to vacate the property before the fair starts in August.  The state is now finalizing plans to relocate some of the historical items such as the "World's Largest Stove" and the bronze statue of Seabiscuit and finding a buyer for the property.  I was also told that they have had "Haz Mat" workers out to examine any possible environmental ramifications once they decide to bulldoze the buildings.  It is a shame that the nation's oldest state fair has to meet this kind of fate.  There are, of course, numerous community efforts already at work trying to save the facility and/or change the Governor's mind. 

In the meantime I would like to thank everyone who has come to the horse shows and clinics here at the Detroit Equestrian Club and I look forward to seeing all of you at the shows this season.

~ Christopher
 

Since 1905, the Michigan State Fairgrounds has been HOME to the Michigan State Fair, an annual Detroit-area family tradition that dates back to1849, making the Michigan State Fair the first state fair ever held in the United States.  With a history dating back to the Civil War, the Michigan State Fair is recognized by The Smithsonian as being the nation's first state fair.  As one former State Fair director once said, "It is in the state's largest city and the state's largest county. It's one hour's drive time or less from more than half the state's population. Now that's where a state fair should be!"

In 1904, Joseph L. Hudson (founder of the Hudson's store chain), decided to give the Michigan State Fair its permanent home. He formed the State Fair Land Company, which acquired 135 acres between 7 1/2 and 8 Mile Roads, east of Woodward Avenue.  Because Hudson had no interest in running the fair, he sold the land to the Michigan State Agricultural Society for one dollar on April 18, 1905. The Agricultural Society accepted the land then purchased an additional 32 acres, extending the fairgrounds to 167 acres. Throughout the following years, additional land was purchased and sold. The present size of the fairgrounds is said to be 164 acres.

The Michigan State Fairgrounds is also home to 5 buildings (the building that the DEC is located in being one of them) that are part of National Historic Registry, including a former home of the 18th  President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant.

This home was originally located on West Fort Street near the intersection with Livernois, not far from Historic Fort Wayne. It is now located near the intersection of Motor City Avenue and Wolverine Way on the Michigan State Fairgrounds at the northern border of Detroit near the intersection of Woodward and Eight Mile Road.

Ulysses S. Grant carries the honor of being the only president of the United States to live in the Detroit area.

Grant was assigned as a Lieutenant to Fort Wayne in Detroit from 1849 to 1851. He had married the sister of a West Point classmate and began raising his family in the home that you see. Most officers assigned to Fort Wayne lived in a hotel, but since Grant had a wife and a child, he resided in the home you see. In 1868, he was elected president and served two terms until 1877.

The Michigan State Fairgrounds holds the distinction of being the home of one of horse racings most famous accomplishments.  In 1933 a horse named "Seabiscuit", was born.  The grandson of the famous Man 'o War, Seabiscuit was considered a mediocre racehorse at best, until  September 7, 1936, before a crowd of 28,000 people at the Detroit Race Track located at the Detroit Fairgrounds, Seabiscuit won his very first race, The Governor's Handicap.  It was the 50th race of his career.  Seabiscuit and jockey, John (Red) Pollard repeated the feat on September 26, 1936 at the Fairgrounds, winning the Hendrie Handicap.  This incredible racehorse quickly became a national hero due in part to his accomplishment at the Fairgrounds, and in 1938 Seabiscuit  was named Horse of the Year.  In 1958, he was voted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.  

(Photo above, a race held at the Detroit Race Track at the fairgrounds.  Photo left, "Seabiscuit". 
Photo below, statue of "Seabiscuit )

Hob Nobble Gobble

  
Each November the Michigan State Fairgrounds is home of the Hob Nobble Gobble, 
the premier, black-tie fundraising event that is held the evening before the Detroit popular Thanksgiving Parade.

Cattle Baron's Ball


Each year, The American Cancer Society, the nation's leading voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer, calls the Michigan State Fairgrounds home for its "Cattle Baron's Ball" fund raising event.   Since the inaugural debut in 2003, the annual Detroit Ball boasts record-breaking success having raised nearly $4.5 million locally -- earning recognition as one of the most distinctive charitable events in Metro Detroit.

"The American Cancer Society is extremely grateful for the leadership and support the Cattle Baron's Ball receives each year in metro Detroit," said Jill Elder, executive director, American Cancer Society. "We are proud of the fact that the Cattle Baron's Ball supports cutting edge research in southeast Michigan and across the nation, as well as free patient service programs and prevention education." Funds raised during the Detroit event's live auction also provides college scholarships to childhood cancer survivors throughout Michigan. To date, more than $300,000 has been raised at the event in support of the Young Survivors Scholarship program.
 

Each year thousands would attend the Spelling Bee finals held at the Fairgrounds.
In this picture thousands have gathered at the State Fair Coliseum for the 1931 finals.
 Finalists go to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

The Michigan State Fairgrounds is also home to the world's largest stove.

The "World's Largest Stove" debuted at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, while the "World's Largest Tire" debuted at the New York World's Fair in 1964 as a working Ferris wheel. After the fairs, each took on new life at sites in Detroit serving as advertising landmarks and tourist attractions. (Photo left: Workers prepare the stove for its move from Belle Isle's
entrance on Jefferson to the State Fairgrounds in 1965.)

      The stove, sponsored by George H. Barbour, vice-president of the Michigan Stove Company, replicated a "Garland" model kitchen range built by the firm. Factory superintendent William J. Keep designed the huge stove and had it carved in oak by an unnamed sculptor, possibly either John Tabaczuk or Joachim Jungwirth. It measured 25 feet high, 30 feet long, and 20 feet wide. Painted to look like metal, it stood at the Chicago exposition on a platform 20 feet high over an exhibit of regular stoves.
 

The Michigan State Fairgrounds is also home to several year-round family oriented activites, such as

The Little Caesars Hockey League

The Detroit Equestrian Club

Next Shot Golf

Mill Coleman Football Trainer Center

Joe Dumar's Fieldhouse

The J.L. Hudson Auditorium
and more!

The Michigan State Fairgrounds is also
home of your memories
of attending the nation's original State Fair!