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Old Franklin United Brethren ChurchPhoto: Nyttend · Public domain
–Not graded
History · Fairfield Township

Fairfield Township’s post office opened in 1818, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Fairfield Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Franklin United Brethren Church, Old.

1818first post office
1on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Fairfield Township began

When was Fairfield Township founded?

1818

The Fairfield Township post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fairfield (1818), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 473208 years
Founding year: the first Fairfield Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Fairfield Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Fairfield Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1818: 208 years of Fairfield Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fairfield Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fairfield Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Fairfield Township, 1818 to 1906

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1818Post officeThe Fairfield post office opens
  3. 1844Born hereMaurice Thompson is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1906Post officeThe Fairfield post office closes
The story

How Fairfield Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fairfield Township.

Read it all →

Fairfield Township was established in 1821. Fairfield is a descriptive name referring to the beauty of the countryside.

The Old Franklin United Brethren Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

The original town was founded in 1815. It was incorporated as a town in 1876. The village, on the East Fork of the Whitewater River, was known for its buggy-making operations in the late 1800s.

Notable natives included author James Maurice Thompson, who wrote "Alice of Old Vincennes." Women's suffrage pioneer Ida Husted Harper was born in Fairfield.

The town was inundated by a federal reservoir project in the late 1960s.

ChaptersUnincorporated townsAdjacent townshipsMajor highways

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the National Register

1 historic place in Fairfield Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1995
Franklin United Brethren Church, Old
Franklin United Brethren Church, Old
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Federal1
Franklin United Brethren Church, OldFederal

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Another post office, Fairfield, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
FairfieldNew Fairfield

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bath TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHarmony TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBrookville Township4 historic placesABlooming Grove TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Fairfield Township’s history

What year was Fairfield Township founded?

The Fairfield Township post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Fairfield Township?

One place: the Franklin United Brethren Church, Old (listed 1995).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.