Agriculture & The Central Fair

From Forest to Farmland

As the sawmill era cleared the forests around Hubbardston, the land revealed what would become the community's enduring economic foundation: rich, productive farmland. The transition from timber to agriculture was rapid and complete. By the 1870s, the farms of North Plains Township were among the most productive in the state.

Fourth in Michigan

By 1870, North Plains Township ranked 4th in all of Michigan for agricultural productiveness — a remarkable achievement for a community that had been dense forest just thirty years earlier. The Irish settlers who had come from farming communities in Wexford, Monaghan, Tipperary, and Wicklow brought agricultural knowledge that proved well-suited to Michigan's soil and climate.

The farming economy centered on:

• Dairy cattle — the backbone of most Hubbardston farms
• Grain crops — wheat, oats, and corn
• Hay — essential for livestock through Michigan's long winters
• Potatoes — a staple crop with particular significance for Irish settlers
• Livestock — cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry

The Central Fair Association

In 1871, local farmers and community leaders established the Central Fair Association to showcase the agricultural achievements of the Hubbardston area. The Association acquired a 20-acre fairground and began hosting annual fairs that became major events on the community calendar.

The Four-Day Fair

The Central Fair was a four-day event — a substantial commitment for a farming community where every working day mattered. The fair featured:

• Livestock exhibitions — cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs judged for breed quality
• Crop displays — grain, vegetables, and fruit arranged for competition
• Handcraft exhibits — quilts, preserves, baked goods, and needlework
• Horse racing — a popular attraction that drew spectators from surrounding townships
• Entertainment — music, games, and social gatherings
• Agricultural equipment — demonstrations of new farming implements and techniques

For the farming families of Hubbardston, the fair was both a professional event — where the quality of their work was measured against their neighbors' — and a social occasion, one of the few times each year when the scattered families of the township came together in one place.

Community Significance

The Central Fair was more than an agricultural exhibition. In a community without a railroad, without a newspaper for most of its early years, and without many of the institutions that larger towns took for granted, the fair was one of the events that made Hubbardston a community rather than a collection of isolated farms.

The fairgrounds themselves — 20 acres dedicated to communal use — represented a significant investment by a small farming community. It was a statement that Hubbardston took its agricultural identity seriously and intended to celebrate it publicly.

Decline

Like many small-town agricultural fairs across the Midwest, the Central Fair eventually declined as farming consolidated, populations shifted, and larger county and state fairs drew attention away from local events. The era of the community fair — when a village of a few hundred people could mount a four-day agricultural exhibition — belongs to a time when farming was not just an occupation but a shared identity.

Legacy

Though the Central Fair is long gone, its legacy endures in the landscape itself. The farms that surrounded Hubbardston in the 1870s — many established by Irish families on land cleared during the sawmill era — are still the defining feature of the township. Drive through North Plains Township today and you see what those 19th-century farmers built: open, productive farmland stretching to the horizon, punctuated by farmsteads, woodlots, and the spire of St. John the Baptist Church.