This from the 1904 Brookville paper, marking the centennial of the settlement of Fairfield. The article was written by T.L. Dickerson, so there's no chance it's wrong. The yellow section of the map circles on Hanna, Templeton and Logan lands. The others -- elsewhere.
Snip from the Dec. 10, 1914, Brookville paper on Andrew Kelley, who had land west of town in the area marked in yellow on this 1925 map from the Indiana State Library.
Photo taken May 1958 for that year's 8th grade commencement. Bob Mode presenting diploma to Jim Hughes. Note the intricate design on the church seat on the left. Older wooden pew shown on the right. Not many interior shots of Fairfield Methodist exist. (From the collection of the late Jim Hughes).
Nothing particularly compelling about this photo, taken on Main Cross facing west from SR 101. Photo taken in the mid-1960s. It's a look, that's all. The hills in the background was something we took for granted.
Cathy Aylstock posted this on the Fairfield Facebook page in 2023.
The oldest histories of Fairfield suggested that the FF Methodist Church was one of the most thriving congregations in Franklin County.
This older blog item discusses that. There are other church entries in the blog. The search option will take you to them.
In any case, on Aug. 1, 1923, the county's Methodists all gathered in Fairfield for a gigantic rally that imagery can't fully grasp.
Either way, this grand and glorious event, covered in the Brookville paper in advance and a couple of weeks later -- other news conspired to render the event less impactual (President Harding had died in office) -- spoke to a fairly significant organization.
Speakers from Fort Wayne and Muncie addressed what the reporter claimed was a "vast" audience of more than 1,000 people. The odds don't not favor accuracy on this, since the feasting and games on the grounds would have been -- well, let's just say "Wow!"
It seems the event was held in the Town Square, which makes sense, although that's never made clear in either of the stories. Most likely, a large tent had been erected.
The reporter, never identified, was likely someone who helped organize the event, or possibly the minister's wife. (Wives did that for ministers in 1923.)
Methodism was a driving force in Franklin County in most of its development years, largely because of its more moderate Protestant approach. Although, Methodism had its own brand of virtue in those days. Still, it was not Catholic.
Where all these ralliers came from on clunky old roads -- from all over the county, the story said. Fascinating concept and a mental picture of a time when Fairfield did matter. A century ago, life was much different.
Intrigue from July 1913
The Connersville Evening News was on top of this yarn, one that somehow inspired the women of Fairfield to stand their ground on national politics. The deal was, somebody wrote something in a newspaper that was carried in another newspaper and the Fairfield Ladies Aid Society wasn't happy about that.
“The best recollection of the writer is that it was from the Richmond Item and its position in the paper and style of setting indicated that the item had been copied from another paper (which was not identified).”
.jpeg)
OK, good enough.
Wilson was the Democrat. Roosevelt had run as a Republican before becoming the Bull Moose party. The news item said Teddy the Bear returned the square without comment or signature and “therefore, Mr. Wilson held a high place in their regard while Roosevelt, if a candidate, could not get a vote from the society.”
So the Aid Society found that a bit unfair – and said so. The Connersville paper explained:
“Mrs. Wilbur Logan writes the News to say that the item did the society serious harm. She wishes it clearly understood that the society is in no sense political. That Mr. Roosevelt would receive the same courteous treatment as would Mr. Wilson should he enter their room.”
Furthermore: “The ladies of the society can feel assured that the News had no other part in the matter than to pass along what evidently had been more than once before in print. On the other hand, the free advertising of their good and public spirited work ought to help rather than harm the society. Who knows but it may bring bids for the quilt when put up for sale from afar and from sources not dreamed of.”
No news on how all that turned out.
Wilson was re-elected in 1916 and doubtless thanked Fairfield for making it possible.
Roosevelt got his face on the side of a hill in South Dakota.
Along U.S. 27, there's a stone on the side of the road marking Miller's connection to Liberty and Union County, where he was born in 1837.
(Miller allegedly later on said he wasn't born in Liberty at all but on a wagon headed west … and a full four years later. So, 1837 or 1841 … your choice.)
When he was 12, he traveled west with his family, first to Oregon and later to California when gold was dug up at Sutter's Mill.
Miller was born with the uninspiring name of Cincinnatus Heine Miller and became Joaquin because it was easier to spell. Later on, he became known as the “Poet of the Sierras.”
In 1915, after his death, Union and Wayne counties collaborated on some kind of memorial marker to the poet, who dreamed Utopian dreams and managed a life that cemented him as one of the more curious people to come out of Liberty.
As the freak events of history conspired, the weirdest part of the story from the U.S. 27 perspective was -- in 1950, a motorist went off the road and trashed the monument. Yeah, 15 miles of wide open highway and the guy had to hit Joaquin Miller's plaque.
Miller gained his fame in the 1880s in the richly self-important area not far from San Francisco where his work became widely appreciated. Such was the life of the poet in Miller's time. As an eccentric, he had the opportunity to promote a form of awareness that found favor among the elite of his time.
To say that he was influential is understating it. In the tradition of Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, Will Rogers … Miller was well known.
A far cry from the dusty road between Liberty and Richmond where he was purportedly born. The guy may have been born humble, but there's no evidence he lived that way. He appears to have had substantial wealth as his fame grew.
Miller ascribed to the belief that there truly was an “American” literature.
“Will we ever have an American literature? Yes, when we leave sound and words in the winds. American science dashes along at fifty, sixty miles an hour but American literature still lumbers along in the old fashioned English stage coach at ten miles an hour and sometimes with a red-coated outrider blowing a horn. We have not time for words. When the Messiah of American literature comes he will come singing so far as may be in words of one syllable.”
Anybody asks you where the town of Fairfield was located, tell 'em Google Maps has not forgotten.
Updates are always fun.
There were dozens of companies making wagons, carriages, carts, Phaetons and anything that needed to be pulled. The most notable ones were the Studebakers in South Bend and the McFarlane empire in Connersville.
It is Connersville where Loper's world gets interesting. Our 2015 essay on that is
We have learned where Loper set up his display room in Connersville in 1883 and where it was located 5 years later. The Huston Hotel at 4th and Central in Connersville was one of several such emporiums in the day, thriving as it would and entertaining a world of at least local substantive self-prominence.
No idea why Loper moved his business to a different spot, but he did. Marked on the map in yellow are the two major locations taken from a 1887 Sanborn map (Indiana University).
.png)
The rest of this is more interesting for different reasons. The Connersville Times, in publishing news of Loper's death in March 1904, spared no sap.
"George Loper, of Fairfield, was called away from Earth last week, his funeral took place on Thursday. Verily the Shadowy Reaper has been busy in in the past year reaping the golden grain."
Theo. Dickerson penned these classic paragraphs.
According to published reports, the fair citizenry of those two townships were fed up with being mistreated by Franklin County government and were determined to secede and become part of Union County. This was quite prosperous news in Liberty and Connersville, although the Brookville 'media' ignored it as fake news.
In April of that year, the Liberty and Connersville papers reported:
The areas the identified were “filled for the most part with foreign-born citizens and their families that make up the bulk of that big Democratic vote that helps put the judicial candidates over. A religious question is involved too.”
To summarize, the area was southern Franklin County, populated by a large number of German-heritage Catholics or Lutherans, none of whom were found in any significant number in the northern part of the county.
Springfield Township also had a beef in the fight but they fell short of advocating for secession.
Fairfield and Bath townships had an affinity to southern Union County, both papers concluded.
What tripped the trigger?
“Recently the people in Fairfield Township were turned down cold on a petition for an improved pike. The bulk of county money goes into the “Dutch” settlements.”
A degree of bigotry? For sure. A shining moment to illustrate disdain for politics? Clearly, yes.
It never went beyond that and it's not clear who agitated for it in the first place. Most likely a couple of prominent farmers.
The Liberty position on this:
“Union County would welcome them with open arms and give them the 'square deal.' They belong to us by right anyway. They're our kind and besides, we need them.”
Union County was carved out of northern Franklin County in 1820 and much of that area's early history is joined in heritage in Harmony and Liberty townships south of Roseburg and Billingsville.
The boundaries never changed and the roads probably never got any better.
Dated July 31, 1969, this piece in the Palladium-Item, Richmond:
FAIRFIELD -- A house, recently moved to Fairfield from a location two miles north of Brookville, was destroyed by fire Wednesday night. It had belonged to the Elby Davidson family, who had not yet taken occupancy.
The house had been moved from Indiana 101 near old Fairfield to New Fairfield. Old Fairfield and the former site of the house are in the path of the Brookville Reservoir, under construction.
A fireman said Davidson had been working on an addition to the house and left about 5 p.m. A neighbor noticed smoke and called the fire department about 8 p.m.
Firemen had almost extinguished the fire when they ran out of water. By the time another truck arrived, the home was destroyed. No damage estimate was given.
*
No damage estimate = the place was destroyed.
It was the guy's home. That's what damage was estimated. There was a cruel reality to how the process unfolded. Fairfield was not given any soul. It was a series of moving parts
Most likely, the neighbor was my mother. Our house was essentially across the street from the Davidsons, who lived a lot closer to Fairfield than the "two miles" the story reports.
Houses brought up the valley into New Fairfield were taken up a carved path from a creek just south of the hill toward the Klein-Huber farms. The gravel road up the hill was too steep for a low-boy.
