1950 – 2025
The mule, a symbol of hard work and determination, has done more than any other animal to make America what it is today. Mules worked to build roads, clear forests, plow fields, build railroads, and pull covered wagons for the westward expansion. Mules served in many wars and gave their lives in service to soldiers. Whenever a hard-working animal was needed, the mule was there.
For 75 years, mules from Perry, Missouri, have been traveling to Sedalia for the Missouri State Fair. In the Mule Barn, the name “Chipman” could be found hanging just inside and to the left whenever the draft mules were at the fair.
In the 1960’s, mules stayed all week, and lots of interesting events took place. People brought the whole family through the barn just to see and pat the beautiful blondes.
Show Day was always Tuesday, and people came from all over the state to see the mules perform. The showmen had big whips with crackers to get the mules’ attention, and no, there was no whipping the mules! There were also 12-inch show sticks, soda cans with rocks, connector straps, and extra lead straps so they could show more than one mule at a time.
At the fair, you would expect a lot of noise and hollering. Mules were braying, men doing whatever they could to get the mule to move those long ears forward, talcum powder on their mane and upper tail after they were sheared just right, and black shoe polish on their toenails. It was a show in and of itself.
The hitches were shown during the evening horse show. Six blonde beauties were hitched to a nice show wagon and entered the coliseum at a run. They circled the arena until all entries were in and the gate was shut. Each hitch was lined up before the judge to gee to the left and haw to the right. The mules moved, but the wagons didn’t. Then they backed up straight and pulled forward. The audience loved every minute, especially the figure-8 at a trot.
About 9 p.m., after the day’s work was done, one of the exhibitors would do a jig. A lot of tall tales were told, and it felt like a family.
There were no fancy campers like people have today for themselves and their animals. People slept on army cots in the stalls or in the back of a truck.
A proud moment for the Chipman family was 1955 when former United States President Harry S. Truman attended the fair and had his picture taken with Susie, the 1954 Grand Champion Mule owned by the Chipmans.
The title of World Champion Mule was bestowed on a mule at the Missouri State Fair from 1969 to 1995. Fifteen of those titles went to a Chipman mule. In 1976, on the 200th birthday of this nation, two Missouri State Fair World Champion Mules from the Chipman farm were invited to Washington DC by the Smithsonian and the National Park Service to appear on the Mall daily for a week. Their picture appeared in newspapers across the nation. In 2025, the 4th generation of Chipman mules were still making their presence at the fair.
The Mule, Missouri’s official state animal, now has a national Mule Appreciation Day on October 26.
Author: Jeanie Chipman Gay, curator of the Missouri Mule Museum and partner of Ralls County Historical Society. The Missouri Mule Museum is located at 114 E. Main Street in Perry, MO.
This article is presented as part of Missouri Humanities’ Story of Us campaign. To learn more, visit mohumanities.org/signature-series.
