Raleigh's second Fair Grounds location was used by NC State's football team once (or perhaps twice) in 1892, and again from 1898 through 1905, and the first game of the 1906 season; it replaced Raleigh Athletic Park and was replaced by Riddick Field.

Overall, NC State had a record of 14-7-5 at this field, as well as one unconfirmed game (of unknown result) and one exhibition game which did not count. Finally, 7 games planned for these grounds were canceled. The Farmers only played 2 conference games (as members of the North Carolina Athletics Association) on this field, going 2-0 in those games.

  * Non-conference games

North Carolina opened its first State Fair in 1853; the first grounds were located in east Raleigh, on an 8-1/2 acre plot roughly bounded by Hargett, Rock Quarry, Davie, and Haywood; it can be seen on an 1872 birds-eye illustration of Raleigh here. It was hosted at that location from 1853 to 1860, and again from 1869 until 1872 after a pause for the Civil War. In 1873 the Fairgrounds changed locations to a new tract of land: a 55-acre spot located across the street from the land which would eventually become NC Agricultural and Mechanical College, now NC State University. The move was probably made so the fair could expand to include more activities. In addition to numerous exhibit halls, the grounds featured a large half-mile race track [1] [2].

From the beginning, the primary athletic event at the Fair Grounds was horse racing, utilizing the venue's 1/2-mile dirt loop. Foot and bicycle races were also scheduled, and trap shooting was another common activity; baseball was less popular. At least four baseball games were hosted on the grounds the first three years after moving to west Raleigh; most were rather one-sided affairs. The Waverly Team of Goldsboro defeated the Pittsboro nine 54-25 in 1873, and the following year, the Raleigh Swiftfoots took down the Wake Forest Farmers 72-9. That same year also saw one of the only two close games of baseball in the Fair's early history: a 22-16 affair between the Elm City team of New Bern and the Raleigh Athletics which was won by Elm City. The following year, in 1875, the two teams played a rematch which the Elm City team won again, 11-9. This was the final baseball game played as a part of the state fair.

While baseball got an early spot at the State Fair, football had not yet gained a strong foothold in North Carolina. When the fair did decide to host football, they did so with a bang, hosting the state's first ever game of intercollegiate football as a part of the 1888 State Fair. Played between Wake Forest and North Carolina (the latter fielding a sophomore-only team due to a miscommunication), the contest was held on temporary grounds located inside the racetrack; the Baptists beat the underclassmen 6-4. The following year, the fair attempted to host a game between Wake Forest and Trinity (Duke) but proved unable to because the latter team apparently never fully agreed to the game -- likely due to the incessant politicking and disagreements of the ephemeral North Carolina Inter-Collegiate Foot-Ball Association.

Whatever the reason for the cancelation, fair management made no efforts to secure another football game until 1892, when combined teams from NC Agricultural and Mechanical College and the Raleigh Male Academy played a scrimmage; plans for a second scrimmage were reported, but no post-game evidence of a game taking place has been found. The following year, Wake Forest fell to Trinity (Duke) by a 6-to-12 score. Football would not return until 1898, when NC A&M began using the Fair Grounds as their home venue [2]. Though NC State's football team did eventually leave the Fair Grounds, their home games in that portion of October were often advertized and widely considered to be a part of the State Fair for several decades to follow.

The main seating at the Fair Grounds through this point was afforded by a 300 foot long, three story tall, 6,000-person grandstand which abutted the horse racetrack [2]. Built in 1873 alongside the original grounds, it was described at the time of its construction as "one of the most superior buildings of the kind in the United States." It was unfortunately not ideal for football or baseball crowds: the (more) permanent of the field's football grounds were situated some 200 yards from the structure, probably due to flag poles and other equipment situated in the center of the oval. In response, the Farmers built and demolished their own stands before most of their contests [3].

The original grandstand remained through the 1904 fair, though not without some modifications: the "top heavy" upper level was lopped off before the 1903 edition. Though it was inspected and deemed safe in 1899, the modification was likely made to soothe concerned fans following a nationwide spate of widely-reported bleacher and grandstand collapses around the turn of the century. The topless stands lasted only two fairs, when in 1905 a new set of stands was built ahead of President Roosevelt's visit to the state fair. The new stand was 250 feet long, fifty feet wide, and forty feet tall, and held about 2,000 spectators. Additional permanent seats were built on the north side of the field [4].

Though the use of the fairgrounds was convenient for NC State -- it was located just across Hillsboro Street from campus -- the negatives began to outweigh the positives. As previously mentioned, the field was a good distance from the permanent grandstands, requiring temporary stands to be built between games. Following the game against South Carolina in 1900, the Fair Grounds' field was described as "a veritable patch of stones" and "perhaps the worst [grounds] in the south." Baseball games in particular fell victim to the field's paltry conditions, with numerous games being rained out due to poor drainage, and even after improvements in 1913, Philadelphia sportswriters ridiculed the field as a "back lot" rather than a venue for professional athletics.

Though the Farmers planned to abandon the Fair Grounds in favor Riddick Field, their new on-campus venue, following the 1906 baseball season, things didn't quite work out that way. Construction delays forced their season-opening football game against Randolph-Macon to be relocated to their old stomping grounds at the fair; Riddick was opened a week later, allowing the Red and White to exit their long-time home on a considerable high note. The baseball team played one final season in 1907 as new grass set in at Riddick, leaving with a bang as well on a 7-5 win over rival Wake Forest. Track and field, when sponsored, continued using the grounds through the 1920s [5].

Though spurned by NC State as a venue for match contests, it did continue to see usage for practices, as well as fair activities, which continued to feature prominently various forms of racing; automobile racing first arrived in 1906. The venue also hosted periodic games between African American teams; in fact, the 1907 0-0 tie between Shaw and St. Augustine as part of the NC Colored Fair was the last football game on the grounds until 1912, when a disagreement between NC State and Virginia Tech forced the latter's planned neutral site contest against UNC to be relocated to a temporary field on the Fair Grounds. The field was graded and temporary bleachers seating the week before the game (the short timeline due to the fair). About 1,500 seats were constructed at a cost of $250 (about $6,500 in 2024) on the western side of the field, opposite the existing grandstand. A game between Shaw and Kittrell was played the Friday before the game; Shaw won 9-to-nothing. Virginia Tech took down the Carolinians 26-to-nothing [6].

Horse racing and the nascent auto racing business continued to be popular draws at the fair, while baseball took over the area in the spring. New bleachers were added in 1907, and in 1911 the grounds were set anew. During a motorcycle race in 1919, however, the old grandstand burnt down; it was replaced with temporary bleachers for the 1919 fair, with plans to construct concrete and steel stands by 1920. Instead, the temporary stands were supplemented with additional bleacher seats in 1920, with fair officials anticipating either the relocation of the fairgrounds or a shifting of the track away from the grounds' entrance in an effort to help alleviate entrance crowding [7]. Both came to pass in the next few years.

In 1922, the racing loop was shifted several hundred feet further west; a temporary grandstand was built concurrently, with fair officials electing to hold off on a more permanent structure while plans to relocate the fair to a more remote section of Raleigh were evaluated. The last races on the original loop, which had remained unmoved for over half a century, were held on August 12th, 1922; both horse and automotive races were held. The new track, also a half mile in length, was ready by that same October, as was the new grandstand which sat 4,000 persons. Amateur "City League" baseball, which had been utilizing the grounds for several years, also followed the move westward, and new grounds were prepared by spring 1923 [8].

What had started as an open and remote piece of land on the outskirts of town had developed into a bustling part of the city. Though the impending move was not considered ideal -- the Agricultural Society had recently invested quite a sum into the improvement of the grounds -- it was quite necessary: the small size of the grounds was one of several contributing factors which meant the Fair ran at a deficit for much of the early 1920s. In early 1926, plans for what eventually became the Fairmont neighborhood were formally announced on the former Fair lands, and by April the existing buildings were auctioned off and demolished in preparation for the development [9].

The State Fair was suspended from 1926-1927 while a new site was acquired and improved. That spot turned out to be the Fairs' current location, between Trinity Rd and NC 54. Though various forms of racing remained popular forms of entertainment at the new grounds for several years, the original racetrack was finally done away with in 1970, when it hosted what was for many decades the final NASCAR-sanctioned dirt race. Evidence of this track still remains in the form of the Sam G. Rand Grandstand, which presides over a dirt strip used for tractor pulls, demolition derbies, monster truck rallies, and events of a similar nature [1].

Pictures of Raleigh's Fair Grounds