We published this photo of the Concord State Fair last week. The folks at the Concord Historical Society quizzed you on the following: Guess the time it took for the winning horseless carriage to circle the half-mile track. Here's the answer:
The Monitor reported in 1900 that “Dr. A. H. Hoyt of Penacook circled the track in 58 seconds, which stands as the horseless carriage record for the present.” The speed was just short of a mile a minute.
Concord residents of all types are the focus of “Crosscurrents of Change,” the Concord Historical Society's history of the capital city in the 20th century, expected to be published later this year.
We also received a note from Charlene Mayo with even more cool details about the fair:
Dr. Adrian Hoyt of Penacook raced a car that he made around the oval at the state fair and made it in 58 seconds. Mary Baker Eddy was among the 40,000 or 50,000 attendees. The fair was quite a deal. Special trains and trolleys let people off at the corner of Clinton and South (McKee Square), and they made their way on foot to the fairgrounds.
The first ever state fair was held Sept. 4, 1900, and they ran until August 1909 when the board of directors voted to disband. Apparently a combination of bad weather and the ongoing impact of the depression of 1907 led to the demise of the fair.
The fairs featured things like Nevers' Band concerts, carriage and auto parades, vaudeville shows, high-wire acts and “Noran,” who dove from an 80-foot tower into a pool of water 3-feet deep!
President Teddy Roosevelt attended the fair and then went by train to Newbury and then to U.S. Secretary of State John Hays's home nearby to visit.
In the 1850s, the State Agricultural Fair was held on Dunklee Grounds in the South End. (We now have Dunklee Street and this area probably encompassed Broadway and all that area.) Later the agricultural fair was held at the current New Hampshire National guard site.
Pretty nifty, huh?
