FATHER OF THE STATE FAIR Henry Overholser was well equipped to save the State Fair. He arrived in Oklahoma Territory in 1889 in grand style by train, with several boxcars of prefabricated buildings. Within weeks, he erected six two-story buildings and eventually built the Grand Avenue Hotel, the brick federal courthouse, and the Grand Avenue Opera House, a showpiece for the new city. He used his influence and money to lure the Frisco Railroad to Oklahoma City, a turning point for Henry Overholser, successful businessman and Father of the growth of the city. the State Fair of Oklahoma. verholser had heavily Fair at a salary of $75 per month. passengers, so Overholser, a Oinvested in fairs in Practicing their long-held major promoter of Oklahoma Oklahoma City in the 1890s and belief to invest in the future, City’s first streetcar line in was the largest investor in the Overholser and Mahan began 1902, used his influence with first State Fair in 1907. To balance planning to improve the the streetcar company to build a the State Fair books, Overholser quality of the facilities quickly line to the Fair gate. The project loaned the Fair Board nearly constructed for the first Fair. was completed by the 1908 Fair. $50,000 and hired his assistant, Transportation to the Fair was Thirty streetcars delivered Fair Isaac Shepherd “Dick” Mahan, a concern. Trains provided for visitors every five minutes from to oversee daily operations of the the 1907 event carried too few downtown and other terminals to 17 35