Fairfield

History

Fairfield is most famous for being the hometown of the "friendly" people, and for the Shelton Brothers Gang, notorious bootleggers who fought it out with the Harrisburg, Illinois-based Birger Gang to control criminal activities in Southern Illinois. During the first half of the 20th century, gang leaders Carl, Earl and Bernie Shelton made Fairfield a household name. Based on testimony of Charlie Birger himself, the Shelton Brothers were convicted for a 1925 unsolved mail carrier robbery of $15,000 and were sentenced to 25 years. They were released a few years later. Birger dominated bootlegging in Southern Illinois until he himself was hanged in Benton for the murder of West City Mayor Joe Adams in 1928. After serving their time, the Shelton brothers built a new criminal empire. Based in East St Louis, one of the most prosperous cities of its day, they controlled all vice from Peoria and southward. They met their demise at the hands of the Chicago mob and an insider Charles "Blackie" Harris. A land dispute led to Blackie joining forces with the Mob to kill off members of the Shelton gang. His most notable victim was Carl Shelton, the leader. He was ambushed several miles southeast of Fairfield, shot from his Jeep. Bernie was killed at his Peoria roadhouse. Earl moved to Jacksonville, Florida and became a successful land speculator.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Fairfield has a total area of , of which (or 99.16%) is land and (or 0.84%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  117
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  111
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  92
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  87
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  78
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  75
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  74
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  66