Elkanah Watson - Pittsfield, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 26.895 W 073° 15.168
18T E 643681 N 4701025
A monument honoring founder of the first agricultural fair Elkanah Watson is located in Park Square at the intersection of East Street and Allen Street in Pittsfield, MA
Waymark Code: WM11CK4
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 09/28/2019
Views: 2
A bronze plaque set on a square concrete base with a beveled top honors the organizer the first county agricultural fair in the United States in Pittsfield, MA. The plaque is inscribed:
ERECTED
TO THE MEMORY OF
ELKANAH WATSON
NATIONALLY KNOWN AS
THE FATHER OF THE AGRICULTURAL FAIR
HE WAS FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF
THE BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
NEAR THE OLD ELM IN THIS PARK 1807
ITS ORIGINAL EXHIBITION WAS CONDUCTED
UNDER HIS DIRECTION.
Elkanah Watson was born in Plymouth, MA on January 22, 1758. In 1807 he moved to Pittsfield, MA to raise Merino sheep. In order to promote more effective agricultural practices he organized the first county fair in the United States in Pittsfield, MA in 1810.