The new fairgrounds were built in 1936–38 with Works Progress Administration funding which was secured in part due to the efforts of Governor Clyde Tingley. Leon Harms, formerly the founder of the Marion County Fair in Kansas, laid out the grounds and managed the fair from its inception until 1958.
The first state fair in 1938 attracted about 64,000 visitors. By the 1960s, attendance had grown to over 500,000 visitors annually, and the grounds included "83 structures of varying sizes".