The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 54

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

be forfeited.04 The citizens of McGregor lost interest in the
fair after its establishment and did not comply with their part
of the agreement. Exhibitions, however, were held each fall,
the last in 1893, but the gate receipts decreased each year. The
financial affairs of the Association became so hopeless by Jan-
uary, 1893, that no one expected to recover on the stock.0" The
assets were sold during 1894. It was the opinion of Rose that
the enterprise had been ruined by horse races, the sale of whis-
key on the fair grounds, the contraction of a debt, the failure
of the citizens of McGregor to meet their part of the agree-
ment (apparently the burden of the fair was too great for
McGregor), and the entrance of non-Grangers into the Asso-
ciation.'06 Today the exhibition hall, a large wooden structure,
remains on a farm on the outskirts of McGregor as a barn for
livestock and as the only monument to the noblest efforts of the
farmers of Texas to establish their economic independence.
Chickasha, Okla.
04G. L. Stone to A. W. Buchanan, March 11, 1892, Rose Papers.
o05Stone to Buchanan, February 10, 1893, Rose Papers.
a6Rose to Shaw, March 26, 1894, and April 2, 1894, Rose Letter Book.

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