By Adam Christman Several telephone calls have been received from older residents who thought the earlier arti· cles of this series had overempha· sized the horse racing and amuse· ment aspects of the fairs held in the Wells Street area. They wished to remind me that the original pur· pose of the falr was to encourage competition among the farmers to promote better agricultura; procedures. I was well aware of this point, having been raised in a rural environment in Northwest· I Dave had many comments from older residents about the popu;arity of the events at the fairgrounds. One of the older Ia· dies recalled that when she was a younger mother living on Gott St., (around 1910) she would wheel the baby in his carriage to the fair-grounds Wells St., returning home In time to prepare dinner for her husband. In the evening the family might again visit the fair using the street cars for transportation. This seems an excessive pMce to pay for free entertainment. In the early part of the present century, before the advent of radios and television. it was probably not unusual Cabin, gazebos once graced fairgrounds to know that the basic their building Is not made from scrap lumber. In 1911 the bam referred to earler was struck by lightning and burned. A new 12- stall stable wtlh a tact room, hay loft and groom's quarters was built for $1,650. This remodeled structure ls the senior citizens center at Burns Park. Mrs. Malcolmsoo's article on Burns Park stated that In 1910 there was an open abetter tn the part. City historian Stevens recalls that as a boy (late 19408 and early 1950s) he played In these circular open buildings witb the conical roofs. Many readers wm recall these gazebo-type struetures In our UtUe bome town parts, where baDd& played "Sweet AdellDe" on &mday aftemoool. (Do yw Deed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~iiiiP.~~~Ii~~~~~ ... ~~~;e~;;~~~~~~~~;·~~~· were made ~tv:ea~alu:~o:;d~~~= Even ot the present wa::: =::: ~~ most notable being the erection of viewed last year were 92 years old :er::.:~-!:d!~~~~~~ ~~ ::;. the log cabin In August of that of age, they were only 12, at the ter was apparently moved from year. Over the doorway of this turn of the century. At that age tbeWellsStreetsldeoftheparkto were available for the competitive display of farm products Programs of early country fairs in Michigan, including Washtenaw County, were made available to me at the Bentley Library. AI· though a program was not available for the first Washtenaw County Fair, it was held in 1848, since the program of the 1898 fair, with a picture of the old log cabin on the cover, was announced as the 50th Anniversary of the fair. Programs available for the fairs between 1853 and 1898 did not differ greatly. There were competitive classes for judging live stock, different breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. On the distaff side, canned vegetables and fruits, pies, cakes and bread were presented for competl- ::.i~:,._ to ~"= the tlrst prize in the men'sdlvtsion was worth six dol; ars as com· pared to one dollar in the classes for women. The judges were chosen from local experts in different parts of the country. In the last years of the county fairs held .at what Is now Veterans Park, (1922-1955), ex· perts in various fields from the agricultural college at East Lansing were also used IN AN EARLY map of Ann Arbor 0869, at the Bentley Ubraryl, the area of the fairgrounds south of Hill St. is outlined. The inevita· ble race track and grandstand are shown, as well as a number of what might be considered permanent buildings. In addition to the competitive classes listed above, would appear that for seed displays some permenent structure would be needed. By compactson. however, the facilities at the Wells St., site were, as late as 1910, quite meager. Following the suggestion of Wystan Stevens, our city historian, a visit was made to the Parks and Recreation depart· ment at City Hall to check on a report made 1n 1972 by Margaret Malcolmson on Ann Arbor parks, Mrs. Malcomson Is a true histoMan who went directly to the hand written minutes of. the proceedings of the Park Commission, Board of Education and the City Ann Arbor Diary - Part 34 ....... 'ntO-•• ot bOr 1972 report deal wJth the early bls-tory of Burns Park. Paragraph 2, page 1, of her report states: "The fairgrounds in 1910 com· prised 19.05 acres and contained a half-mlle racing track, a weathered grandstand (the lower part of which was enclosed and provided storage space and crude toilet rooms), a pioneer log cabin erected in 1898 whose logs bore the names and dates of arrival in Washtenaw County of many of the pioneers to this area, an open she!· ter, a track judges' stand and a bam for horses. In an early article of this Neigh· bors series (No. 12, May 20, 1979) reference was made to a book by 0. W. Stephenson entitled "Ann Arbor, the First Hundred Years," published in 1927 by the Ann Arbor ~-~~~p~e~::r ~b~o=~~ =~~~.=::te:: un- serve as a cover for a cbUdren's Washtenaw, 1898." The building From the 1972 report by Mrs. S8Ddplle. was dedicated Sept. 'n. It con· Maicolmson It was apparmt tbat ALBERT GAlLUP remembers tained many Interesting and valu· by 1910 prelimlnary Sleps were that tbese g~type structures able relics of pioneer days in this taken by the part board ~ pur-- were still there in the sumemrs of country.ln 1915and 1916nearly all chase the fairgrOUDda lor tbeclty. 1949-1951 when be was parts oftheserellcswereeitberclaimed As part of the deed, the city caret.aker. He recalls that he by their owners or were stored on agreed to spend $100 per year to stopped a young arsoniSt from desthe attic of the courthouse, where maintain the racetrack. troying one of the shelters. ~~ :~~: =~:08~~<;:~ THE FOLLOWING paragraph is ~m~~~a~tet !~~- 0i~~s:e~:i~ 1917 the building was no longer Ll quoted from Mrl Malcomson's man, who became the full-time ~~~ ~~c~:g~n! ~dcet!'1:':: ~ pm conuniuioners also ~=~~::: ~/~~~~s~~~~;'~~ caringforthe!airgrounds." :':'. ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~v{~ ::~=~~~~~~;r:e:~kes i::: NOTHING WAS SAID In either Clab, and tor this purpose they roof or the ,_'",; ~~aboftve~re~po~rt.~-~t·penna····.,.·vedfl"'ll!m=e~o~ld Gb(u&ilhdfipnagrst. kto. Ttbhee toet more fragDi and the carpentry brought to the fair by women. 01- needed on the barn was met by d