According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of 15.79 square miles (40.9 km2), of which 13.31 square miles (34.5 km2) (or 84.29%) is land and 2.49 square miles (6.4 km2) (or 15.77%) is water.[4]
History
Fairfield Township was established in 1821.[6] Fairfield is a descriptive name referring to the beauty of the countryside.[7]
The original town was founded in 1815. It was incorporated as a town in 1876.[9] The village, on the East Fork of the Whitewater River, was known for its buggy-making operations in the late 1800s.
Notable natives included author James Maurice Thompson, who wrote "Alice of Old Vincennes." Women's suffrage pioneer Ida Husted Harper was born in Fairfield.
The town was inundated by a federal reservoir project in the late 1960s.
New Fairfield was founded in the early 1970s after construction began on a federal reservoir project in the valley of the East Fork of the Whitewater River.
The town exists on land once owned by Carl Huber and Herschel Klein.
It contains no commerce or government agencies.
(This list is based on USGS data and may include former settlements.)
Fairfield Township residents may obtain a free library card from the Franklin County Public Library District in Brookville.[10]
Notable people
Samuel Sidney Harrell (1838-1903), member of the Franklin County bar, served as prosecuting attorney, clerk of the circuit court of his county, spent several years in the Indiana Legislature
