Fairfield, Illinois
| Fairfield | |
| City | |
 The Wayne County Courthouse in Fairfield
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| Motto: "Home of the Friendly People" | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| County | Wayne |
| Coordinates | 38°22′49″N 88°21′57″W / 38.38028°N 88.36583°WCoordinates: 38°22′49″N 88°21′57″W / 38.38028°N 88.36583°W |
| Area | 4.05 sq mi (10 km2) |
| - land | 4.02 sq mi (10 km2) |
| - water | 0.03 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Population | 5,142 (2010) |
| Density | 1,499.0/sq mi (579/km2) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 62837 |
| Area code | 618 |
   Location of Fairfield within Illinois
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Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Wayne County, Illinois, United States, and the location of Frontier Community College. The population was 5,421 at the 2000 census.
Fairfield is most famous for being the hometown of 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 out of 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.
Senator William Borah, the "Lion of Idaho," was born in Fairfield. Fairfield was the hometown of Kenneth Michael Kays, recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War, and Country music singer-songwriter Lance Miller. Carroll C. Boggs, Illinois Supreme Court justice was born in Fairfield. Drue Pearce, Alaska state legislator, was born in Fairfield.
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Wikipedia