The Allen County Fair's recorded history includes repeated moves, weather problems and an 1860 opening day disrupted by politics. A LimaOhio.com historical feature published Oct. 7, 2026, says the fair was billed in 1860 as the first annual event, with I.S. Pillars set to speak on agriculture. The Lima Gazette reported that his address was not given because a political mass meeting near the fairground created excitement. The meeting backed Stephen Douglas, one of Lincoln's opponents; Lincoln won the presidency a month later.
The feature notes the 1860 fair was not actually the county's first. A one-day fair took place in October 1851 on the Jacobs, later Faurot, farm along the Ottawa River, and a second two-day fair followed in 1852. Interest declined, and the fair stopped by the mid-1850s. After reorganization, the 1860 fair went ahead, with the Allen County Democrat calling it a success for a first effort.
The fair returned to the Faurot farm in 1861, but was called off in 1862 during the Civil War. It resumed at Faurot in 1865, then moved in 1867 to the Roberts farm east of Lima, where Lima Memorial Health System now stands. Rain caused severe financial losses between 1897 and 1902, including a spoiled 1900 closing event featuring harness racing.
The site was sold in 1903 to Lima Driving Park Co., which built a 1,500-seat grandstand. The agricultural society rented that site for two weeks annually through 1921. The fair moved to Delphos in 1922 as a street fair, returned to Lima in 1949, and settled in 1950 at its current state Route 309 location.