First Southern New Mexico State Fair in 1887 a 'glorious' event

The first time people came from all around the region for the Southern New Mexico State Fair, they did it by train, horse or wagon. In September 1887, some of the most prominent landowners in the Mesilla Valley put on the very first fair, heralded as the largest event ever staged south of Santa Fe. It was in most ways a traditional fair, with elaborate displays of fruits and vegetables, a small rodeo, music by the Fort Bliss brass band, a baseball game, and a grand ball at Martin Amador's big hall next to his recently completed two-story expansion of his hotel. The top crop in those days was the mission grape, for which the valley was primarily known until the emergence of cotton in the 1920s. Territorial governor Edmund Ross, a big believer in the emerging "fruit culture" of the valley, came down by train to kick off the event. Some area mining interests in Silver City, Chloride, Organ, and Lake Valley set up mineral displays, but that was about the only representation outside of the valley. The fair took place on an open field that is now Pioneer Women's Park, next to Las Cruces' railroad depot completed six years earlier. Eugene Van Patten, the multi-faceted Civil War veteran and owner of the Dripping Springs Resort, also opened his hall (later known as The Rink) for exhibits. Thomas Branigan, Albert Fountain, William Llewellyn, all Union veterans of the Civil War who'd just help form the first officially recognized regional militia, presented an exhibit of "the complete paraphernalia of the celebrated Apache chief San Juan."...more