Welcome to Fairhaven, MA, History

The town of Fairhaven, MA, has a long and rich history dating back to its first settlement in the 1600s by early Plymouth colonists, including John Cooke, one of the original Mayflower passengers, and his cousin Lt. Jonathan Delano, and ancestor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

On these pages you can learn about many aspects of Fairhaven's history in stories written by the town's own "Mr. History Person." You'll also find other historical resources such as transcriptions of historical documents, reprints of out-of-print material, photos and links to other historical web sites.

The most recently posted article appears below. Other articles may be found by clicking on the Table of Contents tab above.

November History in Fairhaven

NOVEMBER 1

1880 The directors of the National Bank of Fairhaven vote to install a telephone in the bank.

1929 The Tabitha Inn is purchased by Zeiterion Realty Corp.

1972 The Fairhaven Institution for Savings is renamed Fairhaven Savings Bank.

2012 The Fairhaven Office of Tourism and Visitors Center move from 43 Center Street, the location for the previous twelve years, to the historic Fairhaven Academy Building at 141 Main Street. 

NOVEMBER 2

2002 The 26-year-old McDonald’s restaurant on Route 6 is destroyed by fire.

2011 In a vote of 1,746 to 1,600, voters in a special election support borrowing money to build a new Leroy Wood School. 

NOVEMBER 3

1887 The machine shop of the Fairhaven Iron Foundry on Center Street just west of Rogers School is destroyed by fire. Water is pumped from the harbor at Union Wharf to extinguish the blaze.

NOVEMBER 4

1821 John A. Hawes and Miss Elizabeth Borden are married by the Rev. Charles Morgridge.

NOVEMBER 5

1747 Robert Hathaway is born to Jonathan and Bridget Hathaway.

NOVEMBER 6

1817 Preacher Benjamin R. Hoyt performs the wedding ceremony of Samuel Wing and Sarah P. Hathaway.

NOVEMBER 7

1833 Lucy Frances Gibbs is born to William L. and Adeline (Gibbs) Gibbs.

1996 A re-dedication ceremony is held to commemorate the centennial of Oxford School. Students bury a time capsule on the grounds and a public program is held in the evening.

NOVEMBER 8

1828 Thomas Huttlestone Jr. dies at sea at the age of 29.

1941 The whaleship Charles W. Morgan arrives in Mystic after being towed from Fairhaven.

1960 School Committee member William Q. “Biff” MacLean Jr. is elected as the Representative to the General Court for the Ninth Bristol District.

NOVEMBER 9

1899 Mary E. (Huttleston) Rogers, mother of Henry H. Rogers, dies at the age of 88.

1901 The 200-foot iron water tower on the north side of “Mattapoisett Road,” now Huttleston Avenue, collapses, flooding the road below with hundreds of gallons of water.

NOVEMBER 10

1794 The Second Church of Christ New Bedford (First Congregational Church of Fairhaven) votes to call Isaiah Weston as its first full-time minister.

1866 The Second Advent Society dedicates the former Sawin Hall on William Street at its house of worship.

1903 The chimes for the Unitarian Memorial Church arrive from the Meneely Bell Company of Troy, New York.

NOVEMBER 11

1730 Capt. Thomas Taber, a former son-in-law of John Cooke and one of the area’s most prominent land owners, dies. His property, inherited by sons Jacob and Philip, later became the site of Oxford Village.

1882 The Fairhaven STAR announces that Henry H. Rogers has purchased the lot bounded Center, Chestnut, Union and Pleasant streets. At week later it will be announced he plans to build a school there.

2019 Carousel Family Fun Center, an indoor roller skating rink with an outdoor miniature golf course on David Drown Boulevard, closes after 27 years in business.

NOVEMBER 12

1854 Royal Hathaway, whose property is at the Acushnet line, dies at the age of 86.

1895 Cara L. (Rogers) Duff, daughter of Henry H. Rogers, marries Urban Hanlon Broughton, an English-born civil engineer. Cara will later become Lady Fairhaven of Lode in England and her son, Urban Huttleston Broughton, will be the first Lord Fairhaven.

NOVEMBER 13

1942 Francis J. Tucker becomes the first Fairhaven serviceman to die in World War II when his ship, the San Francisco, is struck by enemy fire.

1946 Keith’s Theater in North Fairhaven suffers heavy interior damage from a fire.

1983 The Church of the Good Shepherd is granted status as an independent parish by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

NOVEMBER 14

1857 George H. Taber sells Dexter Jenney two lots of land for $261, one of which, on the southwest corner of Cherry and Lafayette streets, will later become property of the Fairhaven Colonial Club.

1861 Rowland Rogers, father of Henry H. Rogers, dies of “apoplexy” at the age of 52.

NOVEMBER 15

1968 John T. Haaland is born. He will become the youngest person elected to the Fairhaven Select Board, being voted into office in 1992 at the age of 23.

2001 The first issue (December 2001) of the monthly Navigator is published by Lori and Christopher Richard.

2002 The Samuel C. Barrett Animal Shelter is dedicated at 200 Bridge Street, having been built by students of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocation Technical High School at a cost of $225,000. 

2006 The School Committee votes to close the Oxford School in North Fairhaven in June of 2007 and to move the students to the new East Fairhaven School.

NOVEMBER 16

1770 Captain Ebenezer Akin dies at the age of 54.

2005 Ground is broken for a new East Fairhaven School.

NOVEMBER 17

1862 Miss Abby Palmer Gifford and Henry H. Rogers are married in the home of Capt. Peleg Gifford, 115 Green Street.

1962 Ground is broken for the New Bedford-Fairhaven Hurricane Barrier, which will be built by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

NOVEMBER 18

1685 Samuel Jenney deeds to his son Samuel Jr. land “in Skonticutt neck.”

1755 At four o’clock in the morning, the town is rocked by an earthquake for four or five minutes.

1809 The packet Thetis, Capt. John Taber, departs for Savannah, Georgia.

NOVEMBER 19

1820 Eleazer H. Wing is born to Samuel S. and Sarah Pope (Hathaway) Wing.

NOVEMBER 20

1957 Clifton A. Hacker dies at the age of 83. For many years, Mr. Hacker had operated the bell chimes of the Unitarian Memorial Church.

NOVEMBER 21

2017 Retired Superintendent of Schools Lynwood P. Harriman dies. He served the school department as superintendent for nearly 30 years, from 1958 to 1987.

NOVEMBER 22

1912 A Special Town Meeting adopts the division of Fairhaven into two voting precincts, the dividing line being the center of North Street, Long Road, Boston Hill Road, and Oak Grove Lane.

1922 The black and white, silent film “Down to the Sea in Ships,” featuring Clara Bow and filmed partly in Fairhaven, makes its debut.

1946 The first West Island causeway is completed.

1948 Robert W. Foster is born.

1955 A fire swept through the Dorothy Cox's Ice Cream Parlor and the upstairs Cox apartment in the building at 101 Middle Street, with estimated damage of $20,000.

NOVEMBER 23

1685 Samuel Jenney deeds to his son Lettice “all my land that is now laid out at Naskatucket brook” as well as land on Sconticut Neck.

1695 John Cooke, the last male Mayflower passenger and the only original Pilgrim to live in what’s now Fairhaven, dies at the age of 88.

1809 The sloop Thetis en route from Fairhaven to Georgia is wrecked off Cape Hatteras. Twenty-nine of the thirty-four men aboard are lost.

1998 Fairhaven adopts a “pooper scooper” by-law requiring dog owners to clean up their pets’ droppings.

NOVEMBER 24

1921 Artist Lemuel D. Eldred dies.

1922 Millicent P. Lincoln is born to Harold C. and Eva E. (Kelley) Lincoln.

1957 Joanna (McQuillan) Weeks is born.

NOVEMBER 25

1997 A group of eleven Fairhaven taxpayers files a suit in an attempt to block the town from constructing a bicycle path along the old railroad right of way. The plaintiffs are Diane Hanrahan, Jeffrey Huze, Dana Huze, Cheryl Correia, Pamela J. Hawkes, Eileen Cebula, Barbara Acksen, Kristen McKenna, John D. McKenna and Henry Cebula.

NOVEMBER 26

1831 The town votes to hold future Town Meetings at the Academy Building.

1888 Henry H. Rogers is elected a director of the National Bank of Fairhaven.

2002 Police Chief Edward “Ted” Silva retires after serving as chief for nine years and Gary Souza is sworn in as the new chief.

NOVEMBER 27

1859 The whaleship Florida, commanded by Capt. Thomas W. Williams, puts in at the island of Mokil in the Pacific Ocean and takes aboard 4,000 gallons of coconut oil for shipment to New Zealand.

NOVEMBER 28

1903 As many as a dozen tunes are played on the new Unitarian Memorial Church chimes as the bells were being adjusted following their installation in the church tower.

NOVEMBER 29

1652 Thirty-six Plymouth colonists purchase from Wampanoag chief Ousemequin (commonly known as Massasoit) and his son Wamsutta the territory that makes up the modern communities of Dartmouth, Westport, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet, MA, and part of Tiverton, RI.

NOVEMBER 30

1820 A Christian Church, which will eventually evolve into the Unitarian Church, is organized with forty-five members.

2005 Rodman Candle Works Realty, LLC, buys Fairhaven Shipyard at 48-50 Fort Street from Roger V. Judge and Shipyard Realty Associates, LP.

2013 Myra A. Lopes, a teacher, writer, and active volunteer in many civic organizations, particularly the Fairhaven Improvement Association, dies at the age of 82.

© COPYRIGHT 2021 by Christopher J. Richard. All rights reserved.