By Gina Long
Checked Out
I often walk on the Kansas State Fairgrounds, and I frequently stop to rest in a quiet, unassuming structure painted golden yellow, enjoying the shade as cool breezes waft through its pillars.
“What is the House of Capper?” I asked myself one day. While in the JP Harris Kansas Room at the Hutchinson Public Library, I stumbled across the book “Arthur Capper: Publisher, Politician, and Philanthropist” by Homer E. Socolofsky, and I discovered an eminent statesman whose namesake building forever linked his legacy to Hutchinson.
Capper’s life and legacy appear throughout the fairgrounds. He earned his fortune through Capper Publications, which grew into one of the largest media organizations west of the Mississippi. His holdings included newspapers, radio stations, and several rural-focused magazines.
Just south of the House of Capper sits the Oz Gallery, which hosts the People With Disabilities art exhibit and competition during the Kansas State Fair. On Christmas Day in 1920, he established the Capper Foundation as a fund to help disabled children. One hundred years later, it is still providing day services and caregiver training for children and adults with disabilities.
Continuing southeast along 19th Avenue are the animal exhibit buildings. Capper began his political career on the Kansas Board of Regents in the early 1900s and was instrumental in the growth of Kansas State Agricultural College (now known as Kansas State University). Every year at fair time, K-State veterinary and animal science students answer questions, help take care of the animals, and teach passers-by about livestock and Kansas’s wild animals.
Turning north along Bison Boulevard brings us to the 4-H Encampment Building and Centennial Hall. Those storied buildings remind us that the Capper-Ketchum Act of 1928 supported nationwide ag-focused educational and extension programs, missions that continue today.
Capper transitioned into politics and ran for governor in 1912, promising to donate funds for a fairgrounds building. He didn’t win that election, but he did run again in 1914 and became the first native-born Kansan to hold the office. Reelected in 1916, he established himself as a champion of agriculture by supporting the passage of “blue sky laws,” protecting Kansans from securities fraud and predatory investments.
He ran for United States Senate in 1918 and beat the incumbent senator in a landslide. He served from 1919 to 1949, handily winning each time. Capper quickly ascended the ranks, serving on several committees, including Agriculture and Foreign Relations.
Strolling back southward along Poplar Street brings you past large grassy areas where, during the fair, equipment dealers showcase their massive machines to prospective buyers. Capper co-wrote the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923, which established the framework for today’s ag credit and lending policies.
Turning east along Grandstand Avenue leads to the fairgrounds splash pad that marks the northern boundary of the Capper Cooperative Park. A sidewalk winds through the garden peppered with signs educating visitors about the history and function of cooperatives. Capper’s signature legislation, the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922, gave small producers the collective power to stand up against monopolistic railroads and corporations.
Today, co-op grain elevators dot the expansive prairie landscape, providing a vital economic driver for rural small towns. The cooperative model has expanded to community-owned grocery stores in both small towns and big-city neighborhoods, and has played a role in community-owned telephone and internet services.
The garden returns us to the House of Capper. The original building opened in 1916 and was funded with Capper’s $3,000 donation ($102,000 today), fulfilling his campaign promise. The structure’s purpose was to offer a respite for fairgoers, offering shade, wooden benches and chairs, restrooms and a water fountain.
The pavilion was boarded up and converted into the Professional Arts Building at some undetermined time. In 2005, the fine arts gallery moved to a different building, and the House of Capper underwent renovation in 2007.
In 2021, the 105-year-old building was declared structurally unsafe and razed the following year.
The rebuilt House of Capper opened in 2023, with upgraded lighting and audio. During the fair’s 10 days, musicians perform in the covered space, and politicians traditionally deliver stump speeches in election years. Throughout the year, weddings, family reunions and other events fill the pavilion.
Enjoy the shade in the House of Capper the next time you are on the fairgrounds. Be sure to visit the public library’s JP Harris Kansas Room if you would like to know more about how a printing press cleaner from Garnett climbed his way to the governor’s mansion and the U.S. Senate, and how his legacy is quietly commemorated on the Kansas State Fairgrounds.
Gina Long is the government documents depository coordinator and a reference services librarian at the Hutchinson Public Library. You can contact her at gina.l@hutchpl.org.