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.