04/12: Fairbank
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
About 10 minutes outside of Tombstone is the ghost town of Fairbank. Located on the San Pedro River, the town of Fairbank came into existence in 1881 with the construction of the New Mexico and Arizona Railroad. Fairbank was the nearest train depot to the rapidly growing Tombstone and quickly became an important transportation and supply hub, eventually serving three rail lines. The town had an elegant hotel, with a restaurant and a bar, a post office, several businesses and a schoolhouse. Fairbank lived on after the other mill towns along the river died and the Tombstone mines flooded in the late 1880's. It made it through the 1887 earthquake. It made it through the 1890 and 1894 floods. Fairbank remained a transportation hub until after WWI, when the price of copper dropped and both the mines and railroads decreased operations. In the 1960s Southern Pacific Railroad abandoned, the Fairbank Station. The Depot was torn down in 1967. The last residents left in the mid 70s. Today only a couple of buildings remain standing. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Friends of the San Pedro River have repaired the old schoolhouse which is now a store. The main commerce building has had work done to the walls, a new roof, doors and windows replaced. (borrowed from a brochure available at the town).
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Friends of the San Pedro River have repaired the old schoolhouse which is now a store. The main commerce building has had work done to the walls, a new roof, doors and windows replaced.
The Fairbank graveyard has become overgrown.
The remains of the Grand Central Mill about a mile and a half out of Fairbank.
More walls at the mill.
Ed spotted this little fellow in Fairbank. Think it is a tarantula. I stayed far away from it.
One of the old rail beds.
Instead of going straight back to Tombstone we decided to make a loop driving down to Sierra Vista then Tombstone. Sierra Vista surprised us, we were expecting a small town and found a city. Think we saw just about every fast food chain there is including Dairy Queen (just love those blizzards), most major restaurants and stores. Also a number of oriental restaurants which is attributed to the military base near by. The drive to Tombstone was quite pretty as we went through a mountain range. I had always assume that the people living in Tombstone either shopped in Bensen or Tucson (an hour away) but now I think they go to Sierra Vista, just 20 minutes away.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Friends of the San Pedro River have repaired the old schoolhouse which is now a store. The main commerce building has had work done to the walls, a new roof, doors and windows replaced.
The Fairbank graveyard has become overgrown.
The remains of the Grand Central Mill about a mile and a half out of Fairbank.
More walls at the mill.
Ed spotted this little fellow in Fairbank. Think it is a tarantula. I stayed far away from it.
One of the old rail beds.
Instead of going straight back to Tombstone we decided to make a loop driving down to Sierra Vista then Tombstone. Sierra Vista surprised us, we were expecting a small town and found a city. Think we saw just about every fast food chain there is including Dairy Queen (just love those blizzards), most major restaurants and stores. Also a number of oriental restaurants which is attributed to the military base near by. The drive to Tombstone was quite pretty as we went through a mountain range. I had always assume that the people living in Tombstone either shopped in Bensen or Tucson (an hour away) but now I think they go to Sierra Vista, just 20 minutes away.