An example of a common canal boat traveling down the canal.

In the 1830s, as Fort Wayne and northern Indiana was becoming well known for its canal, many New Englanders and New Yorkers made the trip over to settle upon the region. These included many prominent Fort Wayne pioneers: Hugh McCulloch, Dr. Merchant Huxford, and the Fairfield brothers Oliver, Charles, and Asa. The Fairfield brothers arrived in Fort Wayne in 1835 with a carriage and over $30,000, which was a very wealthy sum at the time.  Asa Fairfield took up residence in what is now the South Wayne area and owned 240 acres throughout the region. Asa Fairfield’s Italianate style farmhouse still stands today, exemplifying some of Fort Wayne’s early architecture and heritage.

Johnny Warren, ARCH’s Board vice president, will be presenting a lecture on this significant early Fort Wayne settler. As he states,

“Come hear the true life adventures of Captain Asa Fairfield, one of Fort Wayne’s Founding Fathers, whose colorful life in the Nineteenth Century took him from the shores of Maine, to command at sea and service during the War of 1812. Captain Fairfield later moved to the rough and tumble town ofFort Wayne and became a prosperous businessman, operator on the old Wabash & Erie Canal, civic leader and gentleman farmer and landowner.”

A photo of Asa Fairfield’s Italianate style house as it originally appeared.

 

The lecture will also cover a brief history of Asa Fairfield’s house and the ongoing restoration of it, which is located at 815 W Creighton Avenue.  Please come join us and reflect upon one of Fort Wayne’s founders and hear how his heritage is being preserved.

The lecture is on January 31, at 11:00 a.m., at the downtown Allen County Public Library, in meeting room C. We hope to see you there!