August 1
1800 Capt. Ansel
Gibbs marries Lucy LeBaron.
1818 The sloop
Carolina, Capt. Alden Allen, departs on a whaling voyage with a crew consisting
of Allen Barlow, Reuben Delano and Allen Morton.
1885 Selectmen
grant permission for the street car line to extend the tracks south on Fort
Street to Fort Phoenix.
1903 Spurred by a passing comment in an 1888 lecture on Fairhaven history by Franklin Dexter, the Fairhaven Improvement Association installs a bronze plaque on a boulder at Cooke Memorial Park, claiming that Mayflower passenger John Cooke was buried there despite the fact there was no documented proof.
August 2
1807 The
Methodist Episcopal Church of Fairhaven is organized. It is made up of three
women and five men who meet at Head of the River (Acushnet).
August 3
1815 Salathiel
Eldredge and Sarah Hammond are married by Mr. Nehemiah Coy.
1844 The bark Martha, Herman Stewart captain, sails
for whales in the Indian Ocean.
August 4
1863 The brig
Pavilion is crushed by ice in Hudson’s Straight. Most of the crew is rescued on
September 25.
1892 While
staying with her friends the Brownells on Green Street, Miss Emma Borden
receives a telegram summoning her home to Fall River where her father Andrew
and her stepmother Abby have been brutally murdered with a hatchet.
August 5
1901 In an
afternoon ceremony, the cornerstone of the Unitarian Memorial Church is laid
with Henry H. Rogers’ friend Mark Twain on hand to add a touch of humor to the
event.
1965 Ground is broken for the new St. Mary's Church on Main Street in North Fairhaven. The new church is built directly to the south of the old building which is later demolished to create a parking lot.
August 6
1846 Twins Mary
Howard Damon and Martha Howard Damon are born to Tucker and Harriet Damon.
1894 The Fairhaven Protecting Society wagon is moved to its new home in the former police Watch House on Washington Street, which the Select Board had turned over to the Society for its use. The building's new nine-foot doors had been installed by Whitfield & Smith, carpenters.
1901 Anthony H. Mosgrove of New York buys a house lot at 21 Green Street from Charles B. and Mary J. Westgate. Mosgrove will be sexton of the new Unitarian Church.
August 7
1932 The first
issue of the New Bedford Standard-Times is published, the company having been
formed by the merger of the New Bedford Standard, the New Bedford Times and the
Morning Mercury. The publisher of the daily newspaper is Basil Brewer.
1996 The
Massachusetts Banking Commission approves a proposal to merge Slade’s Ferry
Trust Co. of Somerset, MA, and National Bank of Fairhaven. The merger will be
finalized on August 23.
August 8
1673 Lydia Taber
is born to Capt. Thomas Taber and his second wife Mary (Tomson).
1846 The First
Congregational Church sells its old meeting house to Barnabas Ewer Jr. &
Co. The building will be renovated into the Phoenix Block.
August 9
1825 The
whaleship Amazon, commanded by Capt. Ambrose Whitens, departs for the South
Atlantic.
August 10
1908 Seven
Sisters of the Sacred Hearts arrive in Fairhaven.
1997 The Livesey
Skate Park is officially opened at Livesey Park during the North Fairhaven
Improvement Association’s Fun Fair and Car Show.
2024 Police Chief Michael Meyers retires following 31 years of service to the town, with 15 years as chief. Police Chief Daniel Dorgan is sworn in at a ceremony at Town Hall.
August 11
1764 Sarah Egery
is born to Daniel and Deborah (Delano) Egery.
1858 The Town
House located on Main Street in North Fairhaven is destroyed by a fire of
suspicious origin.
August 12
1676 Wampanoag
leader Metacomet or “King Philip” is killed in Rhode Island, ending the
year-long war with the Indians.
1748 Stephen
West, for whom West Island is named, dies at the age of 93. He was the husband
of Mercy Cooke, daughter of John Cooke.
1910 William F.
Nye, founder of Nye Oil Company, dies at his home on Main Street.
August 13
1887 The
Fairhaven Star reports that the wholesale price of bluefish has risen to 18
cents a pound
August 14
1733 Ephraim
Delano is born to Thomas and Jean (Peckham) Delano.
1820 Capt. George
Whitfield and Pamela Wood are married by Justice of the Peace James Taber.
August 15
1942 The U.S.
Coast Guard begins housing servicemen in the Tabitha Inn while they attend
classes at the New Bedford Vocational School.
1968 Mammoth
Mart, a discount department store, opens as the first business in the new
Berdon Plaza on Route 6.
1998 The Delano
Kindred, Inc., an international group of descendants of Philipe De Lannoy,
holds its annual meeting at Fairhaven Town Hall and later tours the town by
bus.
August 16
1650 Hester
(Cooke) Taber is born to John and Sarah (Warren) Cooke.
August 17
1883 Ground is
broken for the Rogers School, which will be the first public building donated
to Fairhaven by Henry H. Rogers.
August 18
1820 Rodolphus
West is born to William and Nancy West.
1857 The bark
Harvest, commanded by Capt. John Charry, departs for the North Pacific.
August 19
1930 The 700 lb.
carved wooden statue of Our Lady of Angels, created by sculptor Monteiro Borges of Oporto, Portugal, arrives
in Fairhaven and is enshrined in St. Mary’s Church.
1991 Hurricane
Bob hits with winds of up to 98 miles per hour, and becomes one of the
costliest hurricanes in U.S. mainland history.
August 20
1958 A First
National supermarket opens at 106 Huttleston Avenue.
1966 Urban
Huttleston Rogers Broughton, the first Lord Fairhaven and grandson of Henry H.
Rogers, dies in England.
August 21
1858 Miss Rebecca
Spooner dies at the age of 97.
1919 Ground is
broken for the Church of the Good Shepherd at the northeast corner of Main and
Morton streets by Mrs. Richard Marsh, president of the Ladies Guild.
1964 The Police
and Fire departments move into their new building at the corner of Washington
Street and Bryant Lane. The police department moved from the basement of Town
Hall and the fire department moved from the Fairhaven Motors building at
Washington and Adams streets.
2000 The Select
Board grants permission to Charles Cromwell to demonstrate firing a flintlock
musket at Fort Phoenix while he is on duty there as a guide.
August 22
1816 Mary Babcock
of Fairhaven is married to Joseph Davis
Jr. of Rochester by the Rev. Abraham Wheeler of the Second Church of Christ
(First Congregational Church).
August 23
1834 Marriage
intentions are filed for William H. Whitfield and Ruth C. Irish.
1864 A fire
beginning at the paint shop of Purrington and Taber at the foot of Center
Street spreads to twenty other nearby businesses and homes, causing about $10,000 worth of damage.
1918 Arthur D.
Stevens of Alden Road dies of wounds sustained while serving in World War I.
1950 A project
to widen Center Street between Main and William streets is begun with the
removal of sidewalks on both sides.
2002 A new
playground is dedicated at Fort Phoenix State Beach and Reservation.
August 24
1790 Tabitha
(Crowell) Huttlestone, wife of Peleg Huttlestone and great-grandmother of Henry
Huttleston Rogers, dies at the age of 47. She is buried at Acushnet Cemetery.
2005 The 240-foot
tall smokestack of the Atlas Tack factory is demolished after having stood for
104 years.
August 25
1725 Mercy Delano
is born to Jabez and Hannah (Peckham) Delano.
1859 The bark
Iowa returns after hunting whales for nearly three years.
August 26
1872 A fire set
by an arsonist destroys the old barracks and damages another building at Fort
Phoenix.
2005 The boyhood
home of Joseph Bates Jr, founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is
purchased from Hugh B. Darden by the Adventist Heritage Ministry. The house,
191 Main Street, had been in the family of Genevieve (Marston) Darden since
1835.
August 27
1847 The
whaleship Albion, Capt. Stephen
Hathaway, leaves on a three-and-a-half-year
voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
August 28
1905 The Major
Israel Fearing monument at Fort Phoenix is dedicated by the Fairhaven
Improvement Association.
2007 Classes
begin at the new East Fairhaven School, which now houses students both from
East Fairhaven and from the former Oxford School district.
August 29
1912 Emilie
Augusta (Randal) Rogers, widow of Henry H. Rogers, dies on a train traveling
from New Hampshire to New York.
1964 Fort Phoenix
State Beach and Reservation is officially dedicated, although it has been a
state beach since 1960.
1965 A new
elementary school on Sconticut Neck is dedicated and named in honor of Leroy L.
Wood, a retired school bus driver.
August 30
1845 The First
Congregational Church holds its last service at the Meetinghouse Church before
moving into the new building next door.
1874 Fort Phoenix
cannons sound to welcome the arrival of President Ulysses S. Grant.
1890 Millicent
Rogers, daughter of Henry H. and Abby Rogers, dies at the age of 17. The
Millicent Library will be built in her memory.
August 31
1954 The region
is struck by the devastating Hurricane Carol, which causes $50,000,000 damage
in New Bedford and completely destroys 130 summer homes and 35 permanent homes
on Sconticut Neck and West Island, also damaging another 200 homes. Eleven days
later Hurricane Edna hits.
