Lake Talbott was created in 1944. The area was a neglected sandpit from which laborers had taken material to make the brick, concrete and asphalt used in Fairgrounds construction projects. Prison labor was used to landscape the lake, which was larger than it is today. Featured on postcards and in fair advertising of that era, it became an enhanced asset to the fair. The lake was named in honor of Joe Talbott, an early pioneer of Hutchinson whose signature was one of the first on the subscription paper in 1901. Talbott served the fair in many capacities for fifty years.