Established probably at the turn of the 20th century, the committee of King’s County Farming and Agricultural Society organised agricultural shows in the county. From 1905 there were shows held in Edenderry, Daingean, Tullamore, Birr and Kilcormac. In 1913 a preliminary meeting was held to revive the old Tullamore show, which had first been held in 1840 under the patronage of the second earl of Charleville. The 1913 show was a success and was thereafter held annually until 1919. Due to the troubled state of the country, there were no shows held between 1920 and 1923. It was revived again in 1924 with the now renamed Offaly Farming and Industrial Society taking over the cricket grounds at Spollanstown, Tullamore, to be used as showgrounds. The show was in decline by the mid-1930s and a decision was taken in 1939 not to hold a show that year, a decision which was upheld for the duration of the Second World War. By the end of the war, the Society had decided to sell the show-grounds at Spollanstown to the combined soccer and rugby clubs, and the Tullamore Show was largely forgotten. It was revived in 1991 and continues with record attendances to the present day.
Parsonstown’s Poor Law Union was established on the 8th of May 1839. It was formed from an elected Board of Guardians, with John Drought as chairman, comprising twenty-nine elected members and nine ex-officio Guardians with all members meeting weekly. Parsonstown Union’s area of operation covered 234 square miles from two counties: from Offaly (King’s) – Banagher, Drumcullen, Eglish, Ferbane, Frankfort, Kilcoleman, Kinnety, Lemanagan, Letter, Lusmagh, Seirkyrans, Parsonstown, Shannon Bridge, Shannon Harbour and Tissarin. From County Tipperary – Aglishcloghane, Ballingarry, Dorha, Lockeen, Lorha and Uskeane. The Union was abolished in 1925, with the Board of Guardians powers being transferred to the county councils' Board of Health.
Séamus O’ Brennan was born James Michael Brennan in Daingean, Co. Offaly c. 1886. He was educated in Daingean NS and the old CBS Tullamore. He worked in the GPO from 1903 and soon after joined the Keating branch of the Gaelic League and the Geraldine Football Club with two others, but after six months’ probation all three lost their jobs, obviously for their patriotic tendencies. He returned to Tullamore where he worked as a clerk in P. & H. Egan’s. He helped form the Tullamore Pipers’ Band in 1911 and was a key member of the Tullamore Volunteers in 1914. He went on the run with Peadar Bracken following the shooting of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Sergeant Ahearn who had attempted to disarm them on 20 March 1916 (the Tullamore Incident). In his military pension application, Brennan states that on Good Friday he was sent by PH Pearse to Tullamore. Following the Easter Rising he was interned until June 1916. He joined F Company, First Battalion, Irish Volunteers upon reorganisation. During the War of Independence he acquired a number of arms for the IRA before being arrested again in November 1920 and interned in Ballykinlar until December 1921. In 1922 he married Miss May Margaret Doody, daughter of James T. Doody, Tullamore. He was a personal friend of de Valera since the 1917 Ennis election and for a time served him as a bodyguard. President de Valera and old comrades were among those who attended the funeral in 1968.
Alo O'Brennan, Cormac St, Tullamore was a member of a strongly republican family. He served a month in jail for nationalist activity and the family home in Church St, Tullamore, was raided on a number of occasions. He was manager of the employment exchange in Tullamore from the late 1920s until 1974. Leading member of Irish National Forresters and a former Chief Ranger, he was a founder member of Tullamore Pipe Band in 1911. He died in 1976 aged 82.