MIDDLE FLORIDA FAIRGROUNDS AND HORSE-RACING TRACK

This area of Tallahassee was once the location of a fairground with a one-half mile horse-racing track. In 1866, the estate of Judge Thomas Baltzell sold 258 acres to John Armstrong Craig. As part of the old Craig Place, John Armstrong Craig and wife Susan Frances Eppes Craig sold a 19 3/4-acre plot of their holdings in 1879 to the Middle Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Association. Since then, the property has been consistently described in land records as the "Old Fair Grounds." Bounded by the present streets of Milton Street, 10th Avenue, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, and stretching south of 7th Avenue, the fairgrounds held the first Middle Florida Fair on January 21, 1879. To facilitate access to the fair, Leon County opened a wide avenue from town to the site. Events at the fair included stock and farm implement shows, floral and food displays, ladies' handiworks, horse racing, ring-jousting tournaments, and marksmanship contests. There were stables, a ticket office, a grandstand on the west side of the grounds, and two main buildings for exhibits. In September 1925, Thomas Sherrill Green and wife Velva Dykes Green platted this area as the Sunniland subdivision.