Fairborn

History

Fairborn was formed from the union in 1950 of the two villages of Fairfield and Osborn after a charter was signed on January 1st. Fairfield was founded by European Americans in 1816 and Osborn in 1850.The city was Incorporated on August 1st, 1950. The area of the village of Fairfield was settled by European Americans before Ohio was admitted as a state. The first log cabin was built in 1799 by George Greiner. Pioneers migrating northward and westward from Kentucky and Virginia considered this area near the Mad River desirable for settlement. They were encroaching on territory of the native Shawnee, who sometimes raided the village. Settlers retaliated. No massacres were recorded but both sides engaged in taking prisoners. Two local accounts relate to the origin of the name "Fairfield". A local Native American chief, possibly a Shawnee, made peace and exchanged prisoners with leaders of the settlement. He said to William Cozad that, when he looked out from Reed's Hill over the town, {{cquote|Yonder lies a fair field. I see thousands of white men moving about in that beautiful fair field. From 1950 to 1970, the city grew to six times its former population, surpassing Xenia (the county seat) as the most populous city in the county, due largely to development and expansion of the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Southwestern Portland Cement, another major employer in the region, operated the largest factory in the city during this period, mining the locally exposed Brassfield Formation. Until the mid-1960s, the city of Fairborn prohibited African American residents and declared it a sundown town. Officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are credited with working with the city residents to end such policies, especially as the United States military was…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. of the land area was zoned as some form of residential while the remaining was either commercial, agricultural, or industrial zoning.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,295
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  20,155
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  14,192
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,093
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,332
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,097
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  12,634
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  12,393

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2026-02-22
  2 km NE of Hillsboro, Ohio
• M 2.9 — 2023-12-09
  5 km W of Jackson Center, Ohio
• M 2.8 — 2008-09-30
  5 km SW of Kettlersville, Ohio