FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART XL 



661 



Continuous since the year 1854 an annual State fair has been 

 held at dififereiit cities in the State, with the exception of 1898 

 when it was thought best to miss a year on account of the Trans- 

 Mississippi exposition at Omaha, Nebraska. 



In 1879 the fair was located permanently at Des Moines, on 

 W^est Grand avenue. The present grounds, containing- two hun- 

 dred sixty-six acres, were secured l)y an act of the Twenty-first 

 General Assembly appropriating $50,000 for the purchase there- 

 of. The people of Des Moines donated a like amount for the 

 erection of buildings. 



The following table shows town or city in Avhich fair was 



