The Old Rush County Fairgrounds circa 1879
South
East 
West
North
Notice the train tracks in the foreground to get your bearings. The horseracing track can be plainly seen. The center of it is what we now use as a steam engine display area. Beyond this is the circle where many of our demonstrations and our parades take place with the natural amphitheater to the right where visitors sit and watch. This picture and the following excerpt were taken from the Rush County Sesquicentennial Book, pages 46, 48, and 49. Those who compiled the book reproduced the picture from the 1879 atlas of Rush County.
"On May 23, 1856, the (Rush County Agricultural) Association purchased 11 acres of land from Joseph Lakin for $950.00. The first fair was held at this site in 1857 two miles east of Rushville on Highway 44.
David Wilson was in charge of the first fair and 2,000 people thronged the grounds the first day. Entries in the various divisions numbered in the thousands.
The fair of 1863, during the Civil War, was the first in which the Rush County Agricultural Society went out of debt and had a surplus of $300.00.
The premium list published in the Rushville Republican June 27, 1866, for the 10th annual fair, to be held Sept. 11, 12, 13, 14, listed the cost of single tickets at 25 cents, annual member family tickets at $1.50, horse and buggy 40 cents, and a man and a horse 35 cents. The flower division had 17 classifications with a cash prize given winners in each class.
The big attraction was the running and pacing horse races in the afternoons. The ring between the hills at the Fair Grounds was used for exhibiting and judging premium stock. Cattle, both dairy and beef cattle of different breeds, draft horses, light harness horses, farm teams, Shetland ponies were featured in a parade at one P.M. For years William Alexander acted as ring marshal. He would ride back and forth between the barn and the grand stand calling out names of show animals and awarding blue ribbons.
For years the C.H. and D. railroad ran a shuttle train to the Fair Grounds. The trains would take on passengers at Fourth and Main Streets and puff slowly out to the Fair Grounds. Later the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Traction Co. ran interurban cars to the Grounds. The railroad ran its last train in 1908. (Added - Amtrak still runs trains by there several times a day. cs)
A small bridge near the Fair Grounds operated for a number of years as a toll bridge. Persons were charged 2 cents for use of the bridge going out and 2 cents coming in from the grounds. Road 44 was as "dusty as a dirt race track."
The business houses closed on Thursdays, the big day of the Fair, so employees could attend. For many years the local Post Office maintained a branch office on the grounds.
The last Fair was held on the old Fair Grounds in 1917. Because of the War and because interest in horse racing had waned, the Fair was no longer profitable. The fair grounds and building were sold at a sheriff's sale."
The old grounds were later leased by the county commissioners to the Rush County Conservation Club for 99 years for $1.00.