6 



Alvan Barrus was sent -with a petition to the legislature. The time for 

 re<;eiving new matter having expired, a motion to enspend tbe rules and 

 consider the matter was lost by only a small majority. Thus the matter 

 was obliged to "hang fire" for a year, during which time much active 

 work was done locally, and after a series of adjourned meetings, rever- 

 ses and discouragements of all descriptions, the act of incorporatiou 

 was obtained, mainly through the efforts of Senator Barrus, with valua- 

 ble aid from Streeter and Allen of the House, and was approved April 

 7, 1883. The corporators named in the charter ware Stephen Hay- 

 ward, Albert Ford, Alvan Barrus, Franklin J. Warner, J. H. Eager, 

 and F. H. Bryant, and met June 30 of that year, in response to a 

 legal call, and formally organized the new society by adopting a consti- 

 tution and ratifying the doings of the last previous annual meeting and 

 the premium list as previously made out by the Executive Committee 

 for that year, thus practically transferring ihe administration of affairs 

 from the corporators to the society. So it will be seen that in a period 

 covering almost eighteen months, after a succession of struggles, the 

 old society was merged into the new, with the benefits of the State 

 bounty of $600. 



June 21, 1884, the society voted to buy sufficient land of F. J. & E. 

 F. Warner to put on a third of a mile track, a committee having previ- 

 ously arranged the piice at $700. F. O. Richards, W. E. Shaw, and 

 Horatio Bisbee were chosen a committee to fence the ground and build 

 a hall for the use of the society, which was done for the use of the fair 

 that year. In Sept. 1885, a track was made, involving much labor, 

 much of which was done by voluntary contribution, also other necessa- 

 ry work was contributed, and in J 886 a judges' staaid was built on the 

 track, and a basement for a dining room placed under the hall, which 

 was previously two stories for the fair exhibition. 



At the first meeting of tlie chartered society Alvan Barrus was chosen 

 Presideut, Wm. G. Atkins, Secretary, and R, R. Packard, Treasurer, 

 who have been re-elected each year until the present time. The Vice- 

 Presidents have been H. A. Streeter, William Baker, Merritt Torrey, 

 D. D. Powers, F. H. Dawes, Mark Deming, F. H. Bryant, Alonzo 

 Shaw, Horatio Bisbee, W. W. Orcutt, W. E. Shaw, S. W. Clark, Will- 

 iam Bancroft, H. A. Ford and E. F. Warner. Nine of the officers con- 

 stitute the Executive Committee, into whose hands the management of 

 fairs and disbursement of premiums and resources are placed. 



In 1882 a premium list was made out on the basis of $200, which was 

 reimbursed by the legislature at the time the charter was granted, and 

 being awarded before the issue of the charter, was considered as a cour- 

 tesy from the legislature, in view of the years' delay and the indefatiga- 

 ble efforts of the society in obtaining the act of incorporation. In 1883 

 the premiums paid were $393 45, since which the amount has annually 



