Dallas Mapping Project
The State Fair of Texas
Fair Park
Began 1886
The State Fair of Texas located in Dallas, TX is an annual event open for three weeks a year in the fall. When it first opened in 1886, the entrance admission price was 50 cents, and $1 per vehicle for parking. There were 14,000 people in attendance at the first State Fair in 1886. Since then, the State Fair has been a huge success and in 1949 it broke the 2 million attendance mark.
Until this day the State Fair keeps attracting thousands of visitors with their approximately 370,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. It contains the Hall of State designed by Donald Barthelme that was built in 1936, 70-75 amusement rides, eight museums, and is also home to the Cotton Bowl where the Texas-OU football game is played annually. The State Fair of Texas is also home to Big Tex, the iconic cowboy who greets fairgoers each September and October.
Texas Woofus
1936
The Texas Woofus is an amalgam of 6 animals. It has the head of a sheep, the neck and mane of a horse, the body of a hog, the wings of a duck, the tail of a turkey, and the horns of a Texas longhorn spanning 10 feet. Lawrence Tenney Stevens the original sculptor of the Woofus, created it for the Texas Centennial Exposition. In 1936 it was removed after it was damaged by workmen who accidentally broke the statue’s nose with a steel beam. In 2002, David Newton recreated it and the Woofus is now back at the fair.
Artifact: