City of Fairfield history

Courthouse: The first courthouse was built of logs in 1821.

1835 General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, under order of the Mexican government, arrived to colonize the Suisun area and create a buffer against the Russians at Fort Ross.

1837 Chief Solano applied to the Mexican governor for a land grant for his people.

1842 Chief Solano sold his grant to Vallejo for $1,000 (the same grant was sold eight years later to A.A. Ritchie and Captain Waterman for $50,000).

And the arrival of the railroad in 1848 it created stronger links between this area and New York City.

Four years after the California Bear Flag Revolution, on February 18, 1850, the boundaries of Solano County were set by the first elected legislature of the territory of California, making Solano County one of the original 27 counties.

Fairfield was founded by clipper-ship captain Robert Waterman in 1856 and named for his hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut.

Fairfield, city, seat (1858) of Solano county, north-central California, United States Adjoining Suisun City to the south, Fairfield is located 45 miles (70 km) northeast of San Francisco.

Over the years plaques for military serving in subsequent wars have been added. It honors the Republican Caucus of Wayne County in 1860 as the first in the nation to nominate Lincoln for the presidency.

The current courthouse was built in 1891.

Streetcars began traveling the traction line, which ran along Pleasant Avenue, in 1898.

The city of Fairfield was formally incorporated in 1903.

More than 4,000 square miles (10,500 square km) of the desert lie below sea level, including the 300-square-mile (800-square-km) Salton Sea, a lake with no outlet that was created in 1905–07 when the nearby Colorado River broke out of its channel.

In the east-central region is the Trans-Sierra desert, which extends along the sheer east escarpment of the Sierra Nevada range and comprises part of the vast interstate Great Basin of the Basin and Range Province. Its largest towns are in the Owens Valley, which was a fertile farmland until its groundwater flow was diverted to Los Angeles through a mammoth series of conduits built in 1908–13.

Today, Fairfield is shaped by the rapid growth along the Interstate 80 corridor and the influence of nearby Travis Air Force Base, which was built east of town in 1942 and provides a tremendous boost to the local economy.

1943 The Waterman Park Federal Housing was built to accommodate airmen and their families where the Civic Center Complex stands today.

The city is the site of a community college established in 1945.

In October 1953, the Chamber published a map showing the areas under consideration for annexation.

Since its humble beginnings in 1955, the City has matured into a quality community with a reputation for excellence.

The California State Water Project, launched in 1960, is the largest water-transfer system ever undertaken.

A vital link to Interstate 275 opened just before 1970, making the community even more accessible and desirable.

General Motors announced that the Hamilton-Fairfield Chevrolet Pontiac Canada Group, known as the Fisher Body plant, would be phased out in the first quarter of 1989.

With a population of 39,729 at the beginning of 1990, the City’s explosive population growth had begun to slow, allowing it to focus on quality development of remaining residential and commercial areas.

Artifacts of stone-age people have been found in Green Valley that date back to 2000 B.C.E. When the Spaniards arrived, Solano County was home to the Patwin Indians.

2003 Fairfield celebrated its 100th anniversary as a city in Solano County.