History
In 1792 John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of the province of Upper Canada, assisted with the formation of the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada based at Niagara on the Lake to further the development of agriculture in Upper Canada. The society helped to promote agriculture through local agricultural societies and fairs.
On July 12, 1825, the Upper Canada Herald contained an advertisement for the Frontenac Agricultural Society Fair to be held near Kingston. The fair operated on and off until 1925. That year the group reorganized under the name of the Kingston and District Agricultural Society. It has operated the Kingston Fair successfully since that time.
As of 1855 the Midland Agricultural Association (which later evolved into the Frontenac Agricultural Society) leased a 23 acre site at the north end of the federal penitentiary reserve bounded on two sides by Palace and Bath Roads. There they built the Crystal Palace (hence the name Palace Road) in 1858 which was moved to the south-east corner of the Memorial Centre site at York and Alfred and re-erected in 1880 after they acquired the land.
Frontenac Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Joseph Longford Haycock (1894 to 1898) served for a number of years as President of the Frontenac Agricultural Association.
The association sold the land to the City of Kingston in January, 1897 for $17,000. (See transfer dated July 5, 1897, Instrument no. CK13650 and Abstract Index 36072-0235 (R) for Land Registry Office #134). Some of the buildings were transferred from the penitentiary grounds along with the Crystal Palace. A 1915 fire insurance map shows buildings (poultry, dairy, horse barns and exhibition building) a grandstand and half mile track and Palace on the property.
Read more about this topic: Kingston Memorial Centre
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