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Site of First California State Fair
- Group 2
- 269 Bush St, San Francisco
- View Map
California's first state fair was held in San Francisco during October, 1854. Exhibits, including vegetables, flowers, minerals, and shells, were displayed at the San Francisco Music Hall. Livestock could be viewed at Mission Dolores. Exhibits were transported to the City in freight wagons drawn by oxen or mules.
Colonel James L. LaFayette Warren was a moving force behind the first fair. In the following years the site of the exhibition was moved annually: to Sacramento in 1855, then to San Jose, Stockton, Marysville, and back to Sacramento in 1859, where it has remained ever since. The state fair has been held every year since 1854, save for a brief period during World War II.
The San Francisco Music Hall, site of California's first state fair, stood at the southeast corner of Bush and Montgomery, a spot now occupied by Bank of the West. A plaque is mounted next door at 225 Bush Street. It was dedicated August 18, 1973, by the State Department of Parks and Recreation and the Native Sons of the Golden West. William Penn Mott, then head of the State Park Department, officiated at the ceremonies.
Plaque
Inscription
California's first state fair was held on this site on October 4, 1854. Sponsored by the California State Agricultural Society, the exhibition of horses, cattle, mules and other stock, and agricultural, mechanical and domestic manufacture and productions
promoted the new state’s growing agricultural industry. A different city held the fair each year, until Sacramento became the permanent location in 1861.
Year Dedicated
1973
Images
