Middlesex COUNTY · Arts & community life
Durham Fair: an agricultural gathering
A town-green fair that grew through volunteer organization, permanent buildings and recovery after interruptions.
Historical focus · 1916–1999
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The story in photographs
1858 (artwork)
Durham, Connecticut, 1858 — landscape painting
George Inness landscape painting of Durham, Connecticut, 1858
Image credit & source
George Inness / Cleveland Museum of Art, The Charles W. Harkness Gift, 1927.387
Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access: CC0
Original source · Reuse termsTHE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPHS
People, places, and change.
A fair begins, 1916
Durham residents approved holding a fair on June 16, 1916, and formed an association that August. The first fair occupied the town green. A Main Street parade was part of the early event through 1924. Agricultural displays brought local work into a shared public setting. [1]
More days and permanent buildings
The event grew from one day to two in 1922, then to three in 1951. A cattle barn opened in 1925, followed by additional major buildings between 1928 and 1933. The grounds developed as a place used repeatedly across generations, with facilities supporting the seasonal gathering. [1]
Interruptions and recovery
The 1938 hurricane prevented that year’s fair, and wartime interruptions followed in 1942–1944. Hurricane Gloria delayed the 1985 opening, but volunteers enabled the event to begin the next day. The 1858 landscape painting included here supplies earlier Durham context; it is clearly labeled as artwork, not as a photograph of the fair. [1] [2]
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Building dates and photograph dates are recorded separately. Later photographs are identified in their captions; unknown exposure dates remain unknown. Follow each image’s credit and reuse terms.