Fairbank, Arizona facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fairbank, Arizona
Ghost town
Fairbank Historic Townsite
Fairbank, Arizona Location in Arizona Show map of Arizona Fairbank, Arizona Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Cochise
Founded	May 16, 1883
Abandoned	1970s
Named for	N.K. Fairbank
Elevation	3,858 ft (1,176 m)
Population  (2009)
• Total	0
Time zone	UTC-7 (MST (no DST))
Post Office opened	May 16, 1883
Post Office closed	1970s
GNIS feature ID	4533

Fairbank, around 1890

Fairbank is a ghost town located in Cochise County, Arizona. It sits right next to the San Pedro River. This town was first settled in 1881. Fairbank became very important because it was the closest railroad stop to the famous town of Tombstone. This made it a key spot for growth in southeastern Arizona.

The town was named after Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank. He was an investor from Chicago who helped pay for the railroad. He also founded the Grand Central Mining Company, which had a stake in the silver mines in Tombstone. Today, Fairbank is part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.

Fairbank's Early Days

Outlaw Bill Downing

Before Fairbank was built, this area was home to a Native American village called Santa Cruz in the 1700s. The modern town started to grow when the railroad arrived in 1881. A railroad station was built in 1882, helping the town develop even more.

Fairbank had a few different names at first, like Junction City and Kendall. It was officially named Fairbank on May 16, 1883. On the very same day, the local Post Office opened its doors.

Why Fairbank Was Important

Fairbank was super important because it was so close to Tombstone. Tombstone was one of the biggest cities in the western United States. Fairbank's railroad station was the nearest one to Tombstone. This made Fairbank a vital link between Tombstone and the rest of the country.

Supplies for Tombstone came through Fairbank. Also, the silver ore dug from Tombstone's mines was shipped out from Fairbank. This ore went to processing mills in nearby Contention City and Charleston. Fairbank also had a stagecoach station. This station was part of the famous Butterfield Overland Mail line, which started in 1885.

At its busiest in the mid-1880s, Fairbank had about 100 people living there. It had a steam quartz mill, a general store, a butcher shop, and a restaurant. There was also a saloon, a Wells Fargo office, the railroad depot, and the stagecoach station.

Challenges and Changes

Fairbank's importance started to fade when the Tombstone mines closed in 1886. This happened after they flooded. When the mines closed, the nearby mills also shut down. This meant the rail depot in Fairbank was not needed as much. Later, dry weather caused farmers and ranchers to leave the area. This made the town even more isolated.

However, Fairbank got a new chance when the railroad connected nearby Bisbee to its train depot in 1889. This made Fairbank an important stop for transporting copper. This copper came from the very productive Copper Queen Mine. But then, the San Pedro River flooded in September 1890. This caused a lot of damage and made even more people leave the town.

The Train Robbery Attempt

On February 15, 1900, Fairbank was the scene of an attempted train robbery. A group of bandits tried to rob the express car on the Benson–Nogales train. Jeff Milton, who was an express messenger and a former lawman, bravely fought off the robbers. He was seriously wounded in his arm, but he stopped the robbery.

The robbery was not successful. One of the bandits, known as "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop, was badly hurt. He later died in Tombstone. Another person involved in the attempt was arrested.

Fairbank Today: A Ghost Town Museum

By the mid-1970s, Fairbank was almost completely empty. The last people left because the buildings were no longer safe. The post office closed, and the old roads became overgrown.

Years later, in 1986, the land where the town sits was bought by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The town became part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (RNCA). It is now called the "Fairbank Historic Townsite."

Today, what's left of Fairbank is open for everyone to visit. You can see several old buildings, including:

• A large adobe building that used to be the general store, post office, and saloon. The BLM has worked to make this building safe.
• The Montezuma Hotel, built in 1889. Only parts of its foundation remain today.
• A small wooden house from 1885, showing how homes looked back then.
• The schoolhouse, built in 1920. It was made from gypsum blocks from nearby Douglas, AZ. This school was used through the 1930s.
• A larger wooden house, built in 1925.
• A stable and an outhouse, built in the early 1940s as part of a government project.
• A railroad bridge from 1927, located northwest of the town along the San Pedro River.
• A railroad platform, west of the town, along the old train line.

In March 2007, the BLM finished restoring the schoolhouse. Now, it's a museum and an information center for Fairbank. It's a great place to learn about the town's history!

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