CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune The San Diego County Fair is once again in full swing, soon to be followed by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's summer race meet at the fairgrounds.

The San Diego County Fair is once again in full swing, soon to be followed by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's summer race meet at the fairgrounds.

Race and fair fans have James E. Franks to thank for their annual fun.

Tucked away in the archives of the 22nd District Agricultural Association – the state agency that manages the Del Mar Fairgrounds – are materials that pinpoint Franks' rightful place in local history as the founding father of the fairgrounds.

It was Franks' vision, tenacity and connections that led him and fellow business associate and friend Frank G. Forward to approach then-Gov. James Rolph about building a permanent fairgrounds. Before 1936, the county fair had been an itinerant expo.

“His permission was granted with the provision that I would assume the Presidency and appoint the Board of Directors,” Franks wrote in his never-before-released biographical account, “Del Mar Fair Ground Report, Acquisition, Financing and Building,” dated Aug. 1, 1966.

Franks and Forward, a La Jollan, brought together an eight-member board that included newspapermen Fred Mitchell of Carlsbad and Bob Graham of Pacific Beach, and four other prominent businessmen. The year was 1933. The country was in the grip of the Great Depression, and Proposition 3, which legalized pari-mutuel horse-race wagering, had been approved.

The 22nd District Agricultural Association was a reality, but had no funds.

“Little did we realize the tremendous job we were undertaking until we could be relieved (for me it was a sacrifice), but I felt the job was worth it for the benefit of the people of San Diego County,” Franks wrote.

With an enthusiastic board, the first order of business was to find a permanent site. From offices in the Spreckels building in downtown San Diego, the board initially considered Mission Bay as a likely location. A local public outcry caused the board to turn its attention to land in Del Mar. The board found a location just east of Highway 101 that was flat, expansive and had a railroad spur in a triangle or Y that led to all roads in all directions.

The acreage belonged to a land developer, Col. Ed Fletcher, who was a personal friend of Franks'. Through Fletcher's South Coast Land Co., a six-month option on the site was secured for a $10 fee. The land later was bought for $25,000, and the fairgrounds was built in part using a grant from the Works Progress Administration. The county fair opened at its new fairgrounds Oct. 8, 1936, with Gov. Frank Merriam officiating.

Franks, a native Texan, came to California in the early 1920s, first settling in Los Angeles. Payments on land that he leased to cattle ranchers ceased when an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease killed off their livestock.

Suffering huge financial losses, Franks sought opportunity in San Diego. His first trip, in 1922, brought him in contact with Fletcher. Franks made a deal to develop Fletcher's land in the Lake Cuyamaca area, using a 90-day option with no down payment.

With this success, Franks relocated to San Diego permanently, raising his family of three daughters and a son in Mission Beach. During Franks' years with the fairgrounds, his wife, Gladys, ran the family-owned sundries store on Mission Boulevard.

Franks was known countywide, having recruited and trained about 6,000 people in his role of director of civilian volunteers during World War II. In his words: “I knew most of the people in both San Diego and Imperial counties. I knew the highways and byways, and I was proud to be known as plain Jim Franks.”

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