The first Dairy Cattle Congress opened at Waterloo on October 10, 1910. The responsibility for the success or failure of the show rested largely upon the shoulders of Hugh G. Van Pelt, general manager of the first five Dairy Cattle Congresses. Both local and out-of-town manufacturers were urged to exhibit their products. Breeders and dairymen from far and near were importuned to enter their stock. Van Pelt himself went to the Illinois State Fair at Springfield and secured "A special train which brought 13 carloads of the choicest cattle" directly to the Waterloo show.

The first dairy show was at Chautauqua Park, a "beautifully located" spot in a "very pretty bit of timber" on the east bank of the Cedar River. The central building of the show was the Coliseum, a large circular building 160 feet in diameter and of steel construction. It was said to be "the biggest building in Iowa without a post". "Big as it is," declared Wallaces' Farmer, "it was crowded to its utmost capacity, with some 300 Holsteins, Jerseys, Guernseys and Ayrshires, as well as with a great variety of dairy machinery.