Published March 21, 2023, for State 48 A2Z
Cochise County, and the State of Arizona for that matter, don’t have any shortage of ghost towns. They also have no shortage of towns that changed their names once or twice over the years. Tucked away in the middle of what is now the San Pedro Riparian Reserve and situated less than 1/2 mile from the San Pedro River, the once prosperous shipping hub of Fairbank, Arizona fits both of those criteria. So grab a seat in the car, put on your safety harness, sit back, and enjoy the ride to the ghost town of Fairbank, Arizona.
The Town of Fairbank was originally the Native American community of Santa Cruz in the 18th century long before white settlers began staking their claims to the land. Flash forward to
1881 as train tracks were being laid throughout the southwest and the town of Fairbank, originally called Junction City, springs to life. Given its proximity to Tombstone, Junction city, later called Kendall and then Fairbank quickly become an important hub between Tombstone and the rest of the country.
In 1882 the train depot was built providing the ability to easily ship goods to Tombstone, which had a population of roughly 7,000 at the time, as well as transporting silver and other valuable ores from the nearby mines and mills. As the town continued to grow a post office was opened on May 16, 1883, the same day the town’s name was officially changed to Fairbank, in honor of Nathaniel Fairbank of Chicago who helped finance the railroad. Fairbank was the founder of the Grand Central Mining Company which held investments in several Tombstone silver mines.
Additionally, Fairbank was home to a Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach station which opened in 1885. At its height around 1885, Fairbank had only 100 residents, which seems small for such an important town, but it did boast a general store, steam quartz mill, Wells Fargo Office, a train depot, stagecoach station, general store, butcher shop, restaurant, and saloon. Then disaster struck.
In 1886, mining operations in Tombstone were forced to shut down when a fire destroyed the Grand Central Pumphouse, flooding the mines. The hoist and pumping plant were deemed too costly to repair and Tombstone became a near ghost town overnight. The town which had over 15,000 residents at one time, saw its population drop to fewer than 700 by 1910. The only thing that saved Tombstone was that it was the County seat.
Following the closure of the Tombstone mines, Fairbank’s standing started to drop as nearby mills started to close and its importance as a transportation hub became unnecessary. To add further insult to injury, severe droughts in the area forced farmers and ranchers to move on to greener pastures, literally. Then some temporary help came that would see Fairbank avoid extinction, albeit temporarily.
To try to keep Fairbank off the endangered list, the railroad connected its line with the Town of Bisbee, which is about 30 miles southwest of Fairbank. The new rail connection meant that Fairbank was once again an important transportation hub, this time taking copper from Bisbee’s Copper Queen Mine and distributing it to the rest of the country. At the time the Copper Queen was the largest producer of copper ore in the area.
While Fairbank was on its way to rebuilding its prominence, disaster struck again when the San Pedro River overflowed its banks in September 1890, forcing more residents to pack up and leave. Nearly ten years later (unless you’re a Ten Years After fan), Fairbank had its most notorious event occur.
In last week’s article, we talked about Pearce’s deputy turned train robber, Burt Alvord and his gang pulling off train robberies and using the Town of Pearce to hide out. Well, this piece of history also applies to Fairbank as, on February 15, 1900, the Burt Alvord Gang attempted a train robbery of the Benson-Nogales train’s express car. The attempt was unsuccessful as Express Messenger and former lawman Jeff Milton managed to drive off the would-be robbers despite suffering a severe bullet wound injury to his arm in the process. Gang member, “Three-Finger Jack” Dunlap was mortally wounded in the battle. Dunlap died later in Tombstone after confessing to the robbery attempt. It was this confession that led to the arrest of another gang member, the notorious Bill Downing.
The Boquillas Land and Cattle Company purchased the town in 1901 and the town would die a slow death as Boquillas only extended leases on commercial buildings and several residences, and, by the mid-1970s, Fairbank was completely deserted. Will the last one out turn off the lights, please?
Today the land and remaining buildings sit inside the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area, which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Several structures of old Fairbank remain today, which include:
An adobe structure that used to house the general store, the post office, and the saloon.
The Montezuma Hotel which was built in 1889 to the south of the Commercial Building. The hotel was torn down to make way for highway construction, and only portions of its foundation remain.
A small wooden house, built in 1885, in a style common in the 18
The schoolhouse, built of gypsum block manufactured in nearby Douglas, AZ, was constructed in 1920, and was a functioning school through the 1930s.
A larger wooden house, built in 1925.
A stable and an outhouse, which were built in the early 1940s as part of a Works Progress Administration project based in Fairbank.
A railroad bridge, northwest of the townsite along the San Pedro River, built in 1927.
A railroad platform, west of the townsite, along the former railroad line
During our visit in September 2022, we tried hiking from the townsite to the cemetery, which is 0.4 miles each way but, when we got about 0.3 miles down the trail the marker that pointed to the cemetery was almost fully covered in overgrowth and you could not see the trail. The sign itself was barely visible and very easy to miss. As a result, we opted to move on rather than risk snakes for the short distance, but we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see the cemetery.
Still, Fairbank Ghost Town should be on your list of places to visit when you are down Tombstone or Sierra Vista way. I am hoping that the BLM will get some of these buildings reopened soon as well as cut back the overbrush on the trails.
Fairbank Ghost Town is easily accessible off Highway 82 about six miles west of Highway 80 and about nine miles from Tombstone. There is no fee to tour the property which didn’t have any open buildings when we visited in September 2022. However, it was still worth the stop to get to see the buildings.
With that, we will wrap things up for this week’s travels and deliver you safely back to your home. As always, we thank you for riding along with us on our weekly travels, good company is always appreciated, and hope to see you on next week’s trip. Be sure to like and follow us on social media (links below), share our blog posts, and feel free to give us your feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Peace!
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Thank you for this excellent history report!