Fairborn, Ohio

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.

It is the only city in the world named Fairborn, a portmanteau created from the names Fairfield and Osborn. After the Great Dayton Flood of 1913, the region and state created a conservation district here and, in the 1920s, began building Huffman Dam to control the Mad River. Residents of Osborn were moved with their houses to an area alongside Fairfield. In 1950, the two villages merged into the new city of Fairborn.

History

thumb|[[Mercer Log House]]

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,

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Fairborn had a population of 34,510, 15,601 households, and 8,026 families residing in the city. The population density was , and there were 16,707 housing units at an average density of .

99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.

Of these households, 23.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 34.8% were married-couple households, 24.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, 32.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present, 36.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census

! Race !! Number !! Percent

| White || 26,869 || 77.9%

| Black or African American || 3,045 || 8.8%

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 107 || 0.3%

| Asian || 1,161 || 3.4%

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 38 || 0.1%

| Some other race || 498 || 1.4%

| Two or more races || 2,792 || 8.1%

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,321 || 3.8%

2010 census

As of the census the top employers in the city are:

{| class="wikitable"

! #

! Employer

! # of Employees

|Wright State University

|2,300

|Morris Home Furnishings

|443

|Peerless Technologies

|300

|Ali Industries

|282

|Kroger Co.

|206

|I-Supply

|173

|Ball Aerospace

|126

|The Design Knowledge Company

|70

The city of Fairborn levies a 2.0% income tax along with a 0.5% "school district tax".

They are:

5/3 Commons
Central Park
Cold Springs Reserve
Community Park
Fair Creek Park
Fairfield Park
Garland Wetland Reserve
Hidden Hills Wetland
Maplewood Park
Mercer Log House
Oakes Quarry Park
Osborn Park
Patterson Park
Rona Hills Park
Sandhill Park

Shawnee Park
Strautman Landing Park
Tecumseh Park
Valle Greene Park
Valle View Reserve
Wedgewood Park
Wright Park
Wright Brothers Huffman Prairie Bikeway
Hall Cemetery
Fairfield Cemetery
Highview Cemetery
Hebble Creek Reserve (Greene County)
Cemex Reserve (Greene County)
James P. Amon Biodiversity Reserve (Beaver Creek Wetlands Association)

Education

thumb|[[Fairborn High School]]

Public Schools

Fairborn Primary School (formerly 5 Points Elementary School), grades pre-K-2
Fairborn Intermediate School (formerly Palmer-South), grades 3–5
Fairborn Baker Middle School (formerly Fairborn Baker High School), grades 6–8
Fairborn High School (formerly Park Hills High School), grades 9–12

In November 2016 a Fairborn City Schools Facilities Master Plan was begun that started construction on all new public schools.

A new Fairborn Primary School opened in 2020
A new Fairborn Intermediate School opened in 2022
A new Fairborn High School opened in 2024
A new Fairborn middle school is currently under construction

Private Schools

Bethlehem Lutheran School, grades pre-K-8 (Lutheran)

Post-secondary institutions

Wright State University, a public undergraduate and postgraduate university with over 19,000 students
Air Force Institute of Technology, a postgraduate university located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (open to uniformed military and DoD civil service personnel only)

Fairborn is served by a branch of the Greene County Public Library.

Notable people

Brian Billick — head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, 1999–2007
Roger B. Chaffee — astronaut who died in the Apollo 1 fire
Kevin DeWine — Ohio Representative to the 70th district; Speaker Pro Tempore of the Ohio House of Representatives
Gus Grissom — astronaut who died in the Apollo 1 fire
J. D. Harmeyer — entertainment figure who appears on Howard Stern Show
Colonel Gregory H. Johnson — NASA astronaut
Gary A. Klein — pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision
Martha Masters — classical guitarist
Buddy Miller — roots musician, singer-songwriter, and producer, member of Emmylou Harris's Spyboy Band
Roger Osborne — author
Michael J. Saylor — founder of MicroStrategy
Mark Turner — jazz saxophonist and teacher at the Manhattan School of Music
Jackie (Waddell) Warner — actress in the reality television series Work Out

Notes

External links

City of Fairborn
Fairborn Chamber of Commerce