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in and near Mansfield including Richmond, Sullivan, Rutland, Covington,
Tioga and more
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Wellsboro Agitator, September 28, 1880, p.3
The ladies of Mansfield deserve a great deal of credit for their successful
labors in raising money to build the "Ladies Pavilion" in Smythe Park.
They have raised during the past year $520 leaving $630 still due to pay
for the building. They propose to furnish good dinners for 25 cents each
to all corner during the Fair this week, and as the profits are to be used
to help them pay for their building we trust they may be liberally patronized.
Wellsboro Agitator, September 6, 1881
A picnic was held at Smythe Park last Saturday by the Rutland and Sullivan
Sunday schools. There was a large gathering and plenty of good music. The
procession presented a very fine appearance, being about a mile in length
and the wagons elegantly trimmed with evergreens and flags. The Mansfield
folks joined the party in the afternoon, and it is stated that about fifteen
hundred people were present. The Sylvania Brass Band and Allen's College
Band furnished music for the occasion.
Wellsboro Agitator, February 6, 1883, p.3
At the annual meeting of Symthe Park Association at Mansfield, last
week Monday the following officers were elected: Mart King, President;
D.J. Butts, Vice-President; Chas. S. Ross, Secretary; Phillip Williams,
Treasurer; Burton Schrader, L.F. Allen, T.H. Bailey, V.R. Pratt, Trustees.
Wellsboro Agitator, September 18, 1883
The grand stand in Symthe Park is well under way. Mr. Ira Wright has
the contract. The work of enlarging the driving-track is also progressing
finely.
Wellsboro Agitator, October 2, 1883, p.3
The Fair at Mansfield
Fine Weather and a Good Show - A Good Crowd Every Day
The equinoctial storm last week Monday and Tuesday caused the managers
of the Agricultural, Mechanical and Industrial Fairy at Mansfield to feel
despondent regarding the success of the exhibition. But on Wednesday morn,
the first day of the Fair, a smiling sun raised the hopes, and the work
of arranging the exhibits went briskly on. The first day the crowd was
not large, but the two games of baseball proved an attraction for some,
and the patrons of the Association were busy in all parts of the grounds.
The stables and pens for horses, cattle, sheep and hogs were all filled
early in the day. It is stated that about 500 exhibitors' tickets were
sold, and that about 2,500 articles were entered for premiums.
It is said that "the happiest men who live by toil are those who cultivate
the soil;" but on Thursday the bulk of the happy crowd came not from the
farms, but from the mining districts and the neighboring villages along
the line of the railroad. The old adage was disproved as the happy picnickers
established themselves about noon under the spreading butternuts in Smythe
Park and munched away at the cold victuals contained in the lunch baskets.
The hotels meanwhile had all the customers they could well accommodate.
Thursday was distinctively the big day of the Fair. The excursion trains
on the Tioga railroad brought in large crowds from the north and south.
It was an idle day at Arnot, and we learn that fully one thousand persons
boarded the train at that place. There were also large numbers of visitors
on the grounds from Elmira and intermediate points.
The main building, or Domestic Hall as it is called, was filled with
the exhibits of the merchants of Mansfield with a few from Elmira, comprising
a large display of furniture, tombstones, harnesses, boots and shoes, sewing
machines, and musical instruments.
The fruits and vegetables were exhibited under a capacious tent, and
fully one-half of the display was made by Mr. Robert Crossley, market gardener
at Mansfield. His exhibit was the finest general collection of vegetables
we ever saw made by one individual at any fair. Mr. Crossley showed twenty-four
varieties of potatoes and five kinds of tomatoes and in all one hundred
varieties of vegetables of his own cultivation. Messrs, Frank Clemons and
J.M. Bailey, of Charleston, Joseph Husted of Covington, and J.P. Morris,
of Mansfield, also contributed largely to the display of fruits and vegetables.
In the Ladies' Pavilion the center piece was made up of potted plants,
cut flowers and grasses from the greenhouses of Robert Crossley. Some fine
oil paintings were exhibited by an Elmira artist, which attracted much
attention. The fancy work was tastefully arranged and excited admiring
comment from the ladies.
The number of horses entered was large. Mr. H. Tubbs, of Osceola, had
the most noticeable exhibit of Perchcron colts on the grounds, all aired
by his horse Valiant, and in all he exhibited nearly forty horses and colts.
In the classes of sheep and swine it seemed to us that the exhibits were
not as numerous nor as fine as those of last year.
The games of baseball on Thursday attracted considerable attention,
and an interested crowd was gathered at the point where the judges were
engaged in passing upon the merits of the horses. At the rear of the Park
two threshing machines and a saw mill claimed some notice.
On Friday the weather continued pleasant, and there was a large crowd
present. The final game of baseball for the championship was played in
the afternoon between the Mansfield and Osceola clubs. The Mansfield boys
won the game by a score of 12 to 10. There was also a parade of the premium
stock around the track.
The Fair, everything considered, was the most successful, financially
and otherwise of any exhibition at Mansfield. The stockholders of the Symthe
Park Association work with a will for the success of their Fair, and they
enlist the citizens of Mansfield almost to a man in a helpful interest
in the enterprise. It is made the event of the year.
There were the usual number of catch-penny affairs on the grounds,
which are common to all fairs, and each seemed to be well patronized.
The grounds have been improved by building a grandstand back of the
ball grounds, enlarging the track and by the erection of some new stabling.
The Nauvoo Band of twenty-one pieces furnished good music during the
Fair.
There were various estimates made of the number of people present on
Thursday, but the figures were evidently so wide of the mark that we will
not attempt to chronicle any of them. It is safe to say, however, that
the attendance was very large, outnumbering any former crowd at the fairs
at Mansfield.
Wellsboro Agitator, September 30, 1884, p.3
The Fair at Mansfield
Good Weather - A Large Crowd and a Creditable Exhibition
The fifth annual exhibition of the Tioga County Agricultural, Mechanical
and Industrial Society was held last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at
Smythe Park, Mansfield. As a whole we think the Fair was fully up to that
of any former year. The Park, filled with people as it was on Thursday
and Friday, is a pleasant sight to the observer as he enters the gates.
The men and women in holiday attire and the children in best bib and tucker
are seen roaming through the grove of butternuts which have been touched
by the pencil of Jack Frost and "seem groups of giant kings, in purple
and gold that guard the enchanted ground." Some cluster around the ball
ground, others are examining the wrinkles on the horns of the prize yoke
of steers or expatiating on the points of the horses and explaining why
the animal awarded the second premium should have had the first. The women
huddle around the vegetable tent, the booths and domestic department. The
dizzy whirligig, the catch penny shows, the quack-medicine vender and the
peanut stand all have their quota of patrons. Life seems brighter to the
weary pencil-pusher after wandering among the happy throngs, and he gives
his broken suspenders another hitch and, notebook in hand, makes a raid
on the horned cattle.
The exhibition of Jersey cattle was exceedingly fine, much better than
in usually seen on such an occasion. Mr. George W. Noble, of Wells, Bradford
county, had a herd of registered Jerseys, and Mr. J.F. Ripley had some
excellent stock of that sort.
A Durham calf five months old and weighting 711 pounds attracted much
attention. There was an excellent display of short-horn Durhams.
A Holstein bull, registered, from the farm of Mr. O.B. Lowell, at Tioga,
received the first premium, as it deserved to. There were several fine
specimens of Holstein cattle on the grounds.
In graded cattle the competition was lively. The farmers in that part
of the county - Richmond and Sullivan - have been getting a step ahead
of their neighbors in recent years in improved blooded stock. A novice
can see that with half an eye.
There were two yokes of working oxen on the ground which deserve special
mention - one of Devons, owned by J.B. Cudworth, and the other Hereford-Devon,
by B. Parkhurst, both of Mainesburg. We don't know which received the first
premium, but both deserved it.
The horse stalls were well filled. We noticed two fine pair of Morgan
draft horses, owned by Mr. R. Bartlett, of Osceola. One team weighted 2,740
pounds. Mr. J.B. Sheerar, of Bloomsburg, exhibited some fine Manbletonians,
and Mr. John Carley, of Jobs Corners, several Messenger horses and colts.
Of the Warwicks, Mr. W.J. Brown's two-year-old carried off first premium.
An English Draft and Percheron stallion weighing 1,400 pounds attracted
much attention, and Mr. Henry Tubbs, of Osceola, made a fine exhibition
of Percherons.
The main building presented the usual array of booths. The Mansfield
Business College exhibited type-writing machines. There were some specimens
of monuments and head-blocks from the Mansfield Marble Works. Messrs. Voorhees
& Co. made a large display of cigars and leaf tobacco. A log cabin
made of cigars was a novelty in this exhibit. Several Elmira business houses
were represented and made creditable displays of their wares. Mr. William
Holland was on hand as usual with some fine samples of his handiwork in
the way of harnesses and saddlery. In musical instrument A.B.A. Briggs,
of Middlebury, represented the Shoninger Organ Co. with their new orchestral
cymbella organ with a chime of 30 bells, the Jacobs Bros. and other pianos.
Mr. G.T. Werline, of Liberty, also had a number of pianos and organs on
exhibition; also Easterbrooks & Cook, of Corning.
In the Ladies' Pavilion Rolason & Metcalf displayed furniture and
J.B. & G.A. Clark a stock of dry goods and cloaks. The floral exhibit
of Robert Crossley made a beautiful center piece of potted plants flanked
by a large tray of cut flowers and dried grasses. An interesting department
was the specimens of natural history exhibited by Mr. D.P. Ingraham, of
Tampa, Florida. It consisted of some fine work in taxidermy, a collection
of corals, geodes, etc. In domestic manufactures, painting, embroidery
and fancy work generally there seemed to be considerable competition, and
we heard the exhibit highly spoken of.
The poultry occupied a small tent near the center of the grounds. The
exhibit was unusually large and embraced many fine specimens. Our reporter
is not booked up on fowls - can't tell the difference between a short-horn
Cochin and a graded Shanghai - so this department must pass without special
mention lest injustice be done to some of the exhibitors.
The array of vegetables was proof enough that this has been a good
year for the horticulturials. Mr. Robert Crossley, market gardener of Mansfield,
occupied a large section with a general assortment of vegetables.
The farmers of Charleston, Messrs. Frank and William Clemons, Julius
M. Bailey, Elias Tipple, Myron Bailey, David Jones and Ezra Wood made up
the display of fruits and vegetables on one side of the rack, the other
section being devoted to the products from Mrs. Allen's farm. The display
of cereals was quite large, and the specimens were very fine.
Considerable space on the ground was devoted to the exhibition of farm
tools and wagons by Bailey & Gaylord. The stove hall was occupied by
T.V. Moore & Co.
The sheep and hogs were not as numerous as in any former year. Dan
Wilson, of Covington, took first premium on his Shropshires and grades,
of which he had five pens. Mr. W.B. Dunham, of Covington, had some fine
Chester White pigs and Mr. Miles D. Rice, of Charleston, a number of Jersey
Reds. The Berkshires were from C.E. Andrews' farm at Somers Lane.
There were games of baseball on the second and third days. In the game
between the Osceola and Arnot Clubs the Osceola boys carried off the prize.
Thursday afternoon the Mansfield Club defeated the Morris Run boys to the
tune of 19-3. On Friday the game was between the Mansfield and Osceola
Clubs. The score stood 8-3 in favor of Mansfield.
The Mansfield, Sylvania and Nauvoo Bands furnished the music.
Wellsboro Agitator, May 12, 1885
The Smythe Park grounds at Mansfield are to be enlarged by the purchase
of adjoining lands, and a half-mile track is to be laid out.
Wellsboro Agitator, January 7, 1890, p.3
The Smythe Park Association, of Mansfield, has elected the following
officers: President, Dr. J.M. Barden; Vice-President, D.J. Butts; Secretary,
J.A. Elliott; Treasurer, Philip Williams; Trustees, J.M. Barden, J.A. Elliott,
A.M. Pitts, H.F. Kingsley, C.S. Kingsley, W.D. Vedder and D.J. Butts; Auditors,
D.H. Pitts, V.R. Pratt and F.G. Elliott.
Wellsboro Agitator, December 21, 1892
The annual meeting of the Smythe Park Association was held in Mansfield
last week Monday, and all the officers were re-elected for another year.
The statement is made that the Association has never yet declared a dividend
on its stock, the shareholders having always voted to apply the net earnings
to the improvement of the grounds.
Wellsboro Agitator, December 26, 1894, p.3
The following are the newly-elected officers of the Smythe Park Association
at Mansfield: President, Dr. J.M. Barden; Vice-President, D.J. Butts; Secretary,
J.A. Elliott; Auditors, J.S. Hoard, G.A. Clark, F.M. Allen; Trustees, J.M.
Barden, D.J. Butts, D.H. Pitts, T.F. Rolason, F.G. Elliott, J.W. Adams,
J.A. Elliott. It is stated that very little was cleared from the last fair
owing to the unusual large amount paid out for premiums, amounting to 20
per cent over former years. The next fair is to be held September 24 to
27, 1895.
Wellsboro Agitator, December 26, 1900, p.9
At the recent annual election in Mansfield of officers of Smythe Park
Association, the following were chosen: President, C.S. Ross; Vice-President,
J.M. Barden; Secretary, W.P. Austin; Treasurer, W.D. Husted; Trustees,
C.S. Ross, Daniel H. Pitts, J. Miller Clark, Walter P. Austin, Judson A.
Elliott, John M. Barden and T.W. Judge.
Wellsboro Agitator, June 20 , 1906, p.4
The loss of a number of stately butternut trees which adorned Smythe
Park in Mansfield is mourned by the people in that borough. They were laid
low by a windstorm which also wrecked the windmill at the Normal School.
Wellsboro Agitator, July 1, 1908, p.7
Mansfield is to have a suitable Fourth of July celebration to be held
in Smythe Park. Rev. R.M. Hunsicker will preside at the exercises, which
will begin at 11 o'clock. There will be plenty of music, exercises by the
Loyal Temperance Legion, reading of the Declaration of Independence by
Rev. Emma E. Bailey, and an address by Rev. A.W. Fenton. A basket picnic
is to be one of the features.
Wellsboro Gazette, August 18, 1927, p.1
Farmers' Picnic at Smythe Park
Large Number Expected to Attend Affair at Mansfield, Aug. 25
A large number of people from all parts of the county are expected to
attend the annual Farmers' picnic at Smythe Park, Mansfield on Thursday,
Aug. 25, when the various farmer's organizations have their outing. Every
phase of the outing is in the hands of committee members, who are enthusiastic
and have had experience in their respective lines. The day's festivities
will be varied, with fun for all, from the kiddies to the granddads.
State Secretary of Agriculture Jordan will be the main speaker and
his address will carry a valuable message to his hearers. The sports will
include many new stunts, particular attention being given to the younger
element. A baseball game between the far and the lean men will afford much
amusement, as will several novelty contest, including quoits pitching,
which will give some of the experts an opportunity to show their "stuff"
on the courts recently built by the Quoit Club.
A band will furnish music for the day. Various stands about the grounds
will supply the needs in candy, ice cream and "hot dogs", and there will
be nothing left undone that will add to your comfort and pleasure for the
day.
Everyone is invited. Better hitch up and come along.
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