The photo is from the Lori Goodman collection. She is a member of the Johnston clan of Fairfield, among the original settler families and merchants in the community in the late 1800s. Without connecting all the Johnston dots -- and there were many -- one man, Omar Johnston, stands out.
He is apparently one of the builders and developers of the town's cornet band, which may have been really good, really really really good, or just another cornet band. Most towns had something of that nature, and they were often attached to community events, graduations, weddings, parades and holiday festivals. There isn't much detail on them or where the musicians learned their craft. As a rule, the wealthier people gave their children music lessons.
There are many old newspaper articles that say a town's "orchestra" was to perform at a function. Definitions matter in towns of 250 residents. The photo is from around 1910 and was taken in the town's central Square.
This clip is from April 1902, Brookville newspaper. Odd Fellows were one of several social societies in town.
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