Fairbank, Arizona
| Fairbank, Arizona | |
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| Ghost town | |
Fairbank in 2014.
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 Fairbank, Arizona
Fairbank, Arizona
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| Coordinates: 31°43′23″N 110°11′18″W / 31.72306°N 110.18833°WCoordinates: 31°43′23″N 110°11′18″W / 31.72306°N 110.18833°W | |
| 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 | MST (no DST) (UTC-7) |
| Post Office opened | May 16, 1883 |
| Post Office closed | 1970s |
Fairbank is a ghost town in Cochise County, Arizona, next to the San Pedro River. First settled in 1881, Fairbank was the closest rail stop to nearby Tombstone, which made it an important location in the development of southeastern Arizona. The town was named for Chicago investor Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank who partially financed the railroad, and was the founder of the Grand Central Mining Company, which had an interest in the silver mines in Tombstone. Today Fairbank is located within the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (San Pedro RNCA).
Originally the location of a Native American village known as Santa Cruz in the 18th century, the area was later settled around the time the railroad came through in 1881, and developed further when the local railroad station was built in 1882. It was originally known as Junction City, then Kendall, then Fairbanks, and was formally founded as Fairbank on May 16, 1883 on the same day that the local Post Office opened.
Due to its proximity to Tombstone, and the fact that it boasted the nearest railroad station to what was one of the largest cities in the western United States, Fairbank acted as a way point between Tombstone and the rest of the country, bringing supplies into the bustling town, and also acting as the departure point for the ore pulled from Tombstone's silver mines on its way to the mills in Contention City and Charleston. Fairbank was also home to a stage coach station on the Butterfield Overland Mail line which opened in 1885. At its height in the mid-1880s, the town housed approximately 100 residents, and boasted a steam quartz mill, a general store, a butcher shop, a restaurant, a saloon, a Wells Fargo office, the railroad depot, and a stage coach station.
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Wikipedia