C. D. Paxton - Engineer Sites

Early Twin Bridges offered few public gathering places, and so these fifty acres, once part of the Lott and Seidensticker homesteads, were developed as “The Park” in 1887. A “harvest home barbecue” was held that year, and two years later the event had blossomed into the first annual county fair. Early fairs were privately run and later partially supported by the county. Then, as now, the fair gave ranchers and farmers a chance to show their best produce and livestock while promoting local pride and friendly rivalry. In 1928, a depressed economy curtailed the event and in 1930 Madison County...

WPA engineer C. D. Paxton designed this impressive octagonal community building as part of the federally funded project to rebuild the fairground in 1936. Master log craftsman Tosten Stenberg of WPA headquarters in Livingston supervised the building. The primary construction material is lodgepole pine, chosen for its uniformity and harvested at nearby Ramshorn Creek. Logs are bias-cut and saddle-notched. Poles radiating from a central lantern form the interior rafters and afford a floor space of one hundred feet in diameter. Besides serving as the main hall during fair time, the Pavilion has long been a favorite place for building memories,...