The Ypsilanti Fair

IFrom the Detroit Tribune. 1 Ypsilanti has had a solid week of excitement on account of the twentieth annual Eastern Michigan agricultural fair, which was held from Sept. 15 t0 1 inclusive. Never before in the history of the fair have such crowds flocked to the grounds, and never before have the people who attended gone away so well pleased as upon this occasion. Twice as many cattle as last year, more horses than could be taken care of upon the grounds and a magnificent display in all other departments, every stall every pen, every coop and every inch of space being taken. There were 2,076 entries in the nineteen departments of the show, or twice as many as last year, There were 189 exhibitors, making an overage of over eleven entries each. The management has done a lot of hard work in securing attractions, and besides this the new motor line between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, which has only been running this year, brought in great crowds from the sister city, attracted by the low fare and the delightful cross-country ride in the breezy opsn cars. Another reason why the fair proved such a success was that, as it occurred during the week immediately following the state fair at T.ansinsr. a large number of the mium exhibitors carne from there, and local exhibitors, knowing that they would come, had to hustle around pretty lively in order that their displays should not be lost sight of in the competition. Tuesday, the opening day, was practically devoted to getting ready, and no admission being charged there was a large attendance, but not so large as on Wednesday, when the events of interest that marked the progressof the exhibition practically began. The gate money for the raorning was greater than that for the whole of the correspondihg day in 1890. The event of the day was the balloon ascensión and parachute jump which occurred late in the afternoon under the auspices of Aeronaut McEwan, of Jackson, his assistant, Charles Wolcott, making the perilous shoot through space. The bold athlete cast off at a height of about 1,500 feet, and reached terra firma in safety about half a mile from the place where he left the earth, proving once again that ballooning and parachuting are as safe as railroading if you only know how to do it. The ascensión was repeated Friday afternoon, the closing day, but was delayed until a late hour on account of the high wind that was blowing. There were exciting trotting races every afternoon and an extra attraction, which, by the way, was not advertised on the bllls, was a prize drill by the Ypsilanti Light Guard, to the music of two excellent bands, the drill being followed by a street parade and another exhibition in front of the opera house. The fair closed Friday evening in n tremendous thunder storm, which, however, did not break until most all the visitors were under cover and out of the way, but the exhibitors, who were bnsy getting their animáis and goods together, were thoroughly drenched and filed down Congress street during the early hours of the evening in a streaming, water-logged procession, which seemed to greatly excite the risibilities of the more fortúnate citizens. The average attendance was not far from 10,000 for every day of the show, and Secretary F. P. Bogardus, who had worked himself almost sick "i arranging tor the opening, recovered immediately when he saw the silver streams pouring into his office from the different gates and the peoPle jostling one another through the narrow entrances. Mr. Bogardus stayed on the ground every minute while the fair was open. This is his second term as secretary, and he ought to be just the man for the place, for he knows the people of Washtenaw pretty well, having lived in Ypsilanti for forty-six years. He has been elected mayor three times, and is now a justice of the peace. William Campbell, who is now serving his fourth term as president of the Eastern Michigun Agricultural Society, has spent the greater part of the fifty-three years during which he has sojourned upon this terrestrial sphere in the neighborhood of Ypsilanti. He is a prosperous farmer and lives at Pittsfield, about midway between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Mr. Campbell has always been a republican of the truest blue. The very good likenesses of both gentlemen which adorn this column are from photographs taken especially for The Tribune. The seople of Ypsilanti take the greatest interest in thelr far, considering it one of the most important among all their institutions. The railroads, too, have done their best for it, making specially low rates from all Darts of the county and from neighjoring cities to those intending to visit it. Ypsilanti is one of the most thrivng cities in eastern Michigan to-day, and all that a casual observer would need to be convinced of the truth of this observation would be to look around him and see the large num)er of new buildings in progrest of construction on the different streets and avenues. The town seems to be ust awakening to the fact that it is splendidly located for all sorts of manufacturing industries and the )ublic spirited citizens who have )ushed themselves to the front in ïer affairs so rapikly during the past ;en years are doing great things in ringing factories to Ypsilanti, and seem to be making large fortunes out of those tpat are already in operation, which will no doubt act as a powerful incentive to fresh efforts n this direction. Ypsilanti was first settled in the ummer of 1823 by Major Benjamin J. Woodruff, who came from Ohio with a party of immigrants eeking a home, and proceeded up he tortuous and swift flowing Huron river from the point where it empties into Lake Erie just below he mouth of our own noble stream, on a primitive flatboat. He didn't ind a place to suit him until he reached the site of the coming city of Ypsilanti, but here he snubbed vessel against the east bank of the stream and went ashore with his ollowers and founded the first vilage in Washtenaw county. Ypsianti was called at first Woodruff' s Grove, but was soon given its present name in honor of Demetrius Ypsilanti, the Greek revolutionist general, a portrait of whom, presented to the municipality by the Greek consul at New York, now hange in the council chamber. The rapid growth of the new village attested Major Woodruff's wisdom in tying up where he did. He was soon joined by others saeking to better their condition, most of whom spent the rest of their lives or are still spending them at the the place where they first settled, and so from this small beginning Ypsilanti has grown until to-day she boasts a population of over 6,000 souls, or to be precise, according to the last census, exactly 6,128. Ypsilanti has two railroads, the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore, Ypsilanti branchor"Huckleberry," as it is irreverently called, not mentioning the new motor line. She has ten churches, respectively methodist, episcopal, baptist, catholic, presbyterian, congregational, lutheran and two colored churches and more building, a big dress-stay factory, a box and tag factory, two flouring milis, two foundries and a large knitting mili as well as many more lesser manufacturing concerns, and several large corporations are negotiating for sites for their plants, where they can avail themselves of the excellenti water power of the Huron river. P. B. Fat Shrinkage - Reportah - "So poor Will was accidently strangled to death. How'd it happen?" Flicker - "Got caught in a shower and couldn't unbutton the collar of his flannel shirt."