A popular fairground that lasted for only five years left a lasting mark on the development of Midtown. In the 1800s, fairs that showcased agriculture techniques and equipment and offered wildly-popular horse races, were held all over the United States. From 1882 to 1887, the Kansas City Inter-State Fairgrounds operated on land stretching from Thirty-eighth and Valentine between Pennsylvania Street and Roanoke Road.

A group of investors bought up 133 acres of land and sold stock to fund the building of the fairgrounds. Most of the land had been part of the large tract owned by A.B.H. McGee, who reserved the land from the east side of Pennsylvania to Broadway, from Valentine to 38th, where his home stood. The fairground was just north of the limits of Westport and an hour south, by buggy, from Kansas City.

The fairground infrastructure grew over its few years of existence. The half-mile racetrack, which stretched from what is now Valentine Road south to 38th between the west side of Pennsylvania and Summit Streets. To the west of the fairground the Inter-State company built a three-story grandstand. The stables lined the edge of the fairground on 38thand Pennsylvania.

The annual autumn fair was a weeklong event. The fairground was also put to other uses such as patriotic celebrations and military drills.

By 1887, although the fair was gaining popularity, the stockholders decided to take advantage of a land boom that made the property worth fifteen times its purchase price. The entire site was sold and platted as the Roanoke subdivision, which includes parts of the Valentine and Roanoke neighborhoods. A new group organized and renamed the event the National Exposition, moving it to land between 12thand 15th Streets near Kansas Avenue.

Do you have memories or more details about this area of Midtown? Please share them with our readers. Would you like us to focus on your block next week? Send us an email.

Our book, Kansas City’s Historic Midtown Neighborhoods, is available now at local bookstores and on Amazon.com. Let us know if you want us to come to your neighborhood association or organization’s meeting to share what we’ve learned about Midtown neighborhood history and tell your members how they can help preserve Midtown history.