Illinois State Agricultural Society

City: Springfield

County: Sangamon

State: Illinois

The Illinois State Agricultural Society was created on January 5, 1853 and legally incorporated by the Illinois General Assembly on February 8. The object of the society was to promote agriculture, horticulture, manufacturing, and the mechanic and household arts. The General Assembly appropriated $1,000 a year for two years for the group. The society first met in Springfield on May 25, 1853 and created Illinois' first state fair held that October. The second state fair occurred in October 1854.

"An Act to Incorporate the Illinois State Agricultural Society," 8 February 1853, Laws of Illinois (1853), 230-31; "An Act Making Appropriations for the Purposes Herein Named," 11 February 1853, Laws of Illinois (1853), 34; John A. Kennicott, Transactions of the Illinois State Agricultural Society (Springfield: Lanphier & Walker, 1855), 1:2, 21.