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Fairhaven, Massachusetts
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Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,159 at the 2000 census.
haven was first settled in 1670 as "Acushnea," the easternmost part of the town of Dartmouth. It was founded on land purchased by English settlers of the Plymouth Colony from an Indian chief and his son, who was named Wamsutta. In 1787, New Bedford - which included the present towns of Fairhaven and Acushnet - separated from Dartmouth and became its own town.
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Encyclopedia
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,159 at the 2000 census.
History
Fairhaven was first settled in 1670 as "Acushnea," the easternmost part of the town of Dartmouth. It was founded on land purchased by English settlers of the Plymouth Colony from an Indian chief and his son, who was named Wamsutta. In 1787, New Bedford - which included the present towns of Fairhaven and Acushnet - separated from Dartmouth and became its own town. Fairhaven was officially incorporated in 1812 and originally included the land that would officially separate to form Acushnet in 1860.
Fort Phoenix State Reservation is located in Fairhaven, and served as the eastern defenses at the mouth of the Acushnet River. There, during the American Revolution, British troops once stormed the area. Also within sight of the fort, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place on May 14, 1775. The fort was enlarged before the War of 1812, and helped repel an attack on the harbor by British forces. The fort was decommissioned in 1876, and in 1926, the site was donated to the city by Cara Rogers Broughton (a daughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers) and today includes a park and beach to the east of the fort, which is just south of the river's hurricane barrier.
Prior to the second half of the 19th century, whale oil was the primary source of fuel for lighting in the United States. The whaling industry was the mainstay for many New England coastal communities for over 200 years. The famous whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts is located across the river. Fairhaven originally was also a whaling port, and Herman Melville set sail aboard the Acushnet from the town in 1841. Once New Bedford's superiority became clearer, the town became a popular site for the homes of the ship owners and captains.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 14.1 square miles (36.5 km˛), of which, 12.4 square miles (32.1 km˛) of it is land and 1.7 square miles (4.4 km˛) of it (12.06%) is water. The town is located on Buzzards Bay, on the eastern banks of the mouth of the Acushnet River, and is the southeastern-most town in Bristol County. The lands of the town jut out into the bay via Sconticut Neck and West Island, along with several other small islands. It is bordered by the river and New Bedford to the west, Acushnet to the north, Mattapoisett to the east and Buzzards Bay to the south. Most of the town's water area consists of its harbors, bays and coves, along with a portion of the Acushnet's waters, and the Nasketucket & Scipping Creeks. Fairhaven's localities include East Fairhaven, Oxford, Poverty Point, Nasketucket, Sconticut Neck, West Island and Winsegansett Heights.
The town has two large public parks, Livesey Park and Cushman Park, as well as a number of smaller ones; Cushman Park, as well as having tennis courts and ballfields and a bandstand, is also the location of Fairhaven High School's running track. The town has several commercial wharves, a yacht club, and several marinas for recreational craft. There are several small bathing beaches, the largest being the Fort Phoenix State Reservation, a south-facing beach to the east of the fort and the New Bedford Harbor Hurricane Barrier. There is also a bike path which travels along a long-unused railroad right-of-way, just to the south of Route 6.
Transportation
Interstate 195 travels on an east-west path through town, crossing the Acushnet River at the point where it begins to narrow out of New Bedford Harbor. It is also crossed by U.S. Route 6, which enters the town on a bridge between the mainland and Pope's Island, which is connected to the rest of New Bedford by the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge, a swing-span truss bridge which is over one hundred years old. Access from I-195 to Route 6 is made via Route 240, a short, 1-mile divided highway which leads from Exit 18 to the intersection of Route 6 and Sconticut Neck Road. The town's retail center is located at this intersection, and includes several stores, markets and restaurants.
Demographics
As of the census of 2008, there were 25,065 people, 8,423 households, and 4,354 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,303.4 people per square mile (503.1/km˛). There were 7,266 housing units at an average density of 586.1/sq mi (226.2/km˛). The racial makeup of the town was 96.32% White, 0.60% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.19% from other races, and 1.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.84% of the population.
There were 6,622 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the town the population was spread out with 21.7% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $41,696, and the median income for a family was $52,298. Males had a median income of $38,201 versus $29,736 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,986. About 6.5% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Fairhaven is located in the Tenth Bristol state representative district, which includes all of Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester, as well as a portion of Middleborough. The town is represented in the state senate in the Second Bristol and Plymouth district, which includes the city of New Bedford and the towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and Mattapoisett. The Fairhaven Police Department is located on Washington Street in the center of town. On the national level, the town is part of Massachusetts Congressional District 4, which is represented by Barney Frank. The state's senior (Class I) Senator, re-elected in 2006, is Ted Kennedy, and the state's junior (Class II) Senator, up for re-election in 2008, is John Kerry.
Fairhaven is governed by a representative town meeting, run by a board of selectmen and an executive secretary. The town has one library (the Millicent Library), two fire stations (the Central and East Fairhaven stations), a centralized police department, and one post office, located behind the library.
Education
Fairhaven has its own school department, with three elementary schools (East Fairhaven,Rogers (named for H.H. Rogers & family) and Leroy L. Wood), one middle school (Elizabeth Hastings Middle School), and Fairhaven High School, which also accommodates some high school students from neighboring Acushnet. Fairhaven High School, donated by Rogers in 1906, is the most recognizable landmark in the town, given its location along Route 6 and grandiose appearance. The school's teams are known as the Blue Devils, and their colors are royal blue and white. The school's fight song is the "Notre Dame Fight Song," shortened by one verse. In addition to their public school, high school students may choose to attend either Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School or Bristol County Agricultural High School free of charge. The town is also home to Saint Joseph's School, a K-8 Roman Catholic school serving the town.
Notable residents
Among Fairhaven's natives was Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840-1909), who was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist. Rogers was one of the key men in John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust. He later developed the Virginian Railway. Rogers and his wife Abbie Gifford Rogers, another Fairhaven native (who was daughter of whaling Captain Peleg Gifford), donated many community improvements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, including a grammar school, an extraordinarily luxurious high school, the Town Hall, the Unitarian Memorial Church, the Tabitha Inn, and the Millicent Library. These structures were erected by top-quality construction standards, a trademark philosophy of Henry H. Rogers; most are still in regular use more than one hundred years later.
Fairhaven was also home to:
- Warren Delano II, grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
- John Cooke, the last surviving male Pilgrim from the 1620 voyage to found the Plymouth colony (and who was, with Thomas Delano, one of the original buyers of the land from the Wampanoags).
- John Cook Bennett (1804–1867) was an American physician and a ranking and influential (but short-lived and controversial) leader of the Latter-Day-Saint movement, who acted as second in command to Joseph Smith, Jr. for a brief period in the early 1840s.
- Captain Joshua Slocum, first man to sail alone around the world, and his ship the Spray.
- World-renowned marine painter and photographer William Bradford lived and worked in Fairhaven.
- William Le Baron Jenney (1832—1907), an American architect and engineer who became known as the "Father of the American Skyscraper", was a Fairhaven native.
- Albert Pike (1809–1891) was an attorney, soldier, writer, and prominent Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C. (in Judiciary Square). A Massachusetts native, he taught school in Fairhaven as a young man.
- William H. Hand, Jr. (1875-1946), was one of the most prolific yacht designers of the twentieth century. Hand’s office was in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
- Christopher Reeve, of Superman fame, kept a sailboat, the 40-foot sloop-rigged "Chandelle", at a Fairhaven shipyard and sometimes flew into New Bedford Regional Airport to pick it up or to stay in town during a stopover en route to Martha's Vineyard.
External links
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- excerpts from their trips together to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition and the 1909 Dedication of the Virginian Railway
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- Town Beach, West Island, rated among the
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- North Fairhaven, and NFIA (North Fairhaven Improvement Association) information
- - National Trust for Historic Preservation
- - EPA
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