Ghost Towns, Fairbank, Arizona

Fairbank
We visited the ghost town of Fairbank, just 16 miles southwest of Tombstone. This little town is a good location to visit if you are in the area since it has a half dozen standing structures still intact, but not accessible due to gates and a possible grounds keeper. The schoolhouse is the only building you can enter that has been restored with a modern feel. The mill and graveyard are a few miles north of the town on a trail which I opted out of due to previous ankle injury. The location is free to visit.

History:
First settled in 1881 in what was then known as the Arizona Territory, Fairbank, the closest rail stop to nearby Tombstone, was an important location in developing 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. 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. 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. [more info]

Date: 11.05.2011
Temp: 62°
Elevation: 3,858 ft
DD (decimal degrees)*
Latitude: 31.72332
Longitude: -110.18873

History: wikipedia