Description
The midway at the Oxford County fair of 1907 at Norway/Paris, Maine. The photo provides a visual historical record of the costume and activities common to small county agricultural fairs at the turn of the century. The Ferris wheel and the merry-go-round were the only amusement rides available. The Ferris wheel featured on this post card belonged to E.H Fellows of Lancaster, New Hampshire, who regularly followed the fair circuit.
The view is southeast, and it was probably from a second floor widow of the south ell of the Exhibition Hall. The Exhibition Hall is the only building remaining from a substantial number of structural facilities belonging to the old fair grounds, which were taken in 1956 to provide the site for SAD 17 Oxford Hills Cooperative High school. The Exhibition Hall was acquired and was renovated in the winter of 2003/04 to provide facilities for Western Maine university. The photograph was most likely taken by Minnie F. Libby, a versatile Norway photographer, who began her work in 1888. She owned and ran the Cottage Studio in Norway from c.1907-1943.
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