Fairbanks is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Fairbanks Township, Sullivan County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. The community is part of the

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and its metropolitan area had a population of 168,716. Located along the Wabash River about e ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Fairbanks was named after Sgt. Nathan Fairbanks, who was killed in September 1812 when his platoon of 12 soldiers was ambushed by a group of Indians just outside the town. The village of Fairbanks was laid out in 1840 by Benjamin Ernest, James Pogue, and Samuel Myers. On this tract of 20 acres, Pogue had killed a bear which was the last one that had been reported in the area for many years. The first child born in Fairbanks Township was Joel Harris on 17 January 1818, the son of Benjamin and Mary (Paddock) Harris. The first school house was built outside the village in 1823. Students would travel 6 or 7 miles to attend. Professor Ed Liston was the Principal of the school in 1884. The population that year (1884) was 135. The post office at Fairbanks has been in operation since 1878.

Geography

Fairbanks is located at . It is shown on the ''Fairbanks'' United States Geological Survey 7½° quadrangle.

Demographics

The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

first delineated Fairbanks as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2022

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Sullivan County, Indiana Unincorporated communities in Indiana Terre Haute metropolitan area {{SullivanCountyIN-geo-stub