Fairborn is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,620 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Dayton and part of the Dayton metropolitan area. The city is home to Wright State University, which serves nearly 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The city also hosts the disaster training facility known informally as Calamityville.
At a Glance
- County: Greene County
- State: Ohio
History of Fairborn
Fairborn was formed from the union in 1950 of the two villages of Fairfield and Osborn after a charter was signed on January 1st. Fairfield was founded by European Americans in 1816 and Osborn in 1850.The city was Incorporated on August 1st, 1950.
The area of the village of Fairfield was settled by European Americans before Ohio was admitted as a state. The first log cabin was built in 1799 by George Greiner. Pioneers migrating northward and westward from Kentucky and Virginia considered this area near the Mad River desirable for settlement. They were encroaching on territory of the native Shawnee, who sometimes raided the village. Settlers retaliated. No massacres were recorded but both sides engaged in taking prisoners.
Two local accounts relate to the origin of the name "Fairfield". A local Native American chief, possibly a Shawnee, made peace and exchanged prisoners with leaders of the settlement. He said to William Cozad that, when he looked out from Reed’s Hill over the town,
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Fairborn, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.