Fairhaven (Massachusett: Sconticut) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor with the city of New Bedford, a place well known for its whaling and fishing heritage; consequently, Fairhaven’s history, economy, and culture are closely aligned with those of its larger neighbor. The population of Fairhaven was 15,924 at the time of the 2020 census.

History

Original land purchase

Fairhaven was first settled in 1659 as “Cushnea,” the easternmost part of the town of Dartmouth. It was founded on land purchased by English settlers at the Plymouth Colony from the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit, and his son, Wamsutta.

Dartmouth, divided and redivided

In 1787, the eastern portion of Dartmouth seceded and formed a new settlement called New Bedford. This new town included areas that are the present-day towns of Fairhaven, Acushnet, and New Bedford itself. Fairhaven eventually separated from New Bedford, and it was officially incorporated in 1812. At that time, Fairhaven included all of the land on the east bank of the Acushnet River. The northern portion of Fairhaven, upriver from Buzzards Bay, formed another independent town, called Acushnet, in 1860. Thus, what had once been a single town, Dartmouth, with a substantial land area, became, in less than 75 years, four separate municipalities. (The western portion of the original Dartmouth land-purchase eventually became a fifth town, Westport.)

Fort Phoenix

Fort Phoenix, owned by the Town of Fairhaven, is located in Fairhaven at the mouth of the Acushnet River, and it served, during colonial and revolutionary times, as the primary defense against seaborne attacks on New Bedford harbor. It is adjacent to the Fort Phoenix State Beach and Reservation operated by the state.

Within sight of the fort, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place on May 14, 1775. Under the command of Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Egery, a group of 25 Fairhaven minutemen (including Noah Stoddard) aboard the sloop Success retrieved two vessels previously captured by a British warship in Buzzards Bay.

On September 5 and 6, 1778, the British landed four thousand soldiers on the west side of the Acushnet River. They burned ships and warehouses in New Bedford, skirmished at the Head-of-the-River bridge (approximately where the Main Street bridge in Acushnet is presently situated), and marched through Fairhaven to Sconticut Neck, burning homes along the way. In deference to the overwhelming force approaching from the landward side, the fort was abandoned, and it was destroyed by the enemy. An attack on Fairhaven village itself was repelled by militia under the command of Major Israel Fearing, who had marched from Wareham, some 15 miles (24 km) away, with additional militiamen. Fearing’s heroic action saved Fairhaven from further molestation.

The fort was enlarged before the War of 1812, and it helped repel an attack on the harbor by British forces. In the early morning hours of June 13, 1814, landing boats were launched from the British raider, HMS Nimrod. Alerted by the firing of the guns at Fort Phoenix, the militia gathered, and the British did not come ashore.

The fort was decommissioned in 1876, and in 1926 the site was donated to the town by Cara Rogers Broughton (a daughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers). Today, the area surrounding the fort includes a park and a bathing beach. The fort lies just to the seaward side of the harbor’s hurricane barrier.

Whaling

Prior to the second half of the nineteenth century, whale oil was the primary source of fuel for lighting in the United States. The whaling industry was an economic mainstay for many New England coastal communities for over two hundred years. The famous whaling port of New Bedford is located across the Acushnet River from Fairhaven. Fairhaven was also a whaling port; in fact, in the year 1838, Fairhaven was the second-largest whaling port in the United States, with 24 vessels sailing for the whaling grounds. The author of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville, departed from the port of Fairhaven aboard the whaleship Acushnet in 1841.

However, once New Bedford’s predominance in the whaling industry became apparent, Fairhaven’s economy evolved into one that supplemented the New Bedford economy rather than competing directly with it. Fairhaven became a town of shipwrights, ship chandlers, ropemakers, coopers, and sailmakers. It also became a popular location for ship-owners and ship-captains to build their homes and raise their children.

Henry Huttleston Rogers

Among Fairhaven’s natives was Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840–1909), a businessman and philanthropist. Rogers was one of the key men in John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil trust. He later developed the Virginian Railway. Rogers and his wife, Abbie Gifford Rogers, another Fairhaven native (who was the daughter of the whaling captain Peleg Gifford), donated many community improvements in the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century, including a grammar school, an extraordinarily luxurious high school, the Town Hall, the George H. Taber Masonic Building, the Unitarian Memorial Church, the Tabitha Inn, the Millicent Library, and a modern water-and-sewer system. These structures were erected to top-quality construction standards, a trademark philosophy of Henry H. Rogers; some are still in regular use more than one hundred years later.

In 1885, Rogers built a huge and modern (for the times) elementary school and, in 1893, a memorial to his beloved daughter, Millicent, in the form of an Italian-Renaissance palazzo that serves as the town’s free public library to this day. On February 22, 1894, when the Fairhaven Town Hall, a gift of Abbie Palmer (Gifford) Rogers, was dedicated, Mark Twain delivered a humorous speech to mark the occasion. Less than three months later, on May 21, 1894, Abbie Rogers died in New York following surgery for stomach cancer.

His grandson was The 1st Baron Fairhaven (1896–1966).

Rogers befriended a number of the high and mighty; he also became a friend, advisor, and patron to a number of the less-well-off. Among his friends were Booker T. Washington, Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller, and Mark Twain, all of whom came to visit Rogers in Fairhaven, sometimes for protracted periods. Late in Twain’s life, he had managed to impoverish himself; Rogers lent him a helping hand, and Twain did whatever he could to return the favors.

Education

Fairhaven’s four public schools are all part of the Fairhaven Public School District. The town has two elementary schools; East Fairhaven and Leroy L. Wood, one middle school, Elizabeth Hastings; and one high school, Fairhaven High.

Fairhaven High School, donated by Rogers in 1906, is the most recognizable landmark in the town, given its prominent location on Route 6 (Huttleston Avenue) and its impressive appearance. The school’s teams are known as the Blue Devils, and their colors are royal blue and white. In addition to the public school, prospective high school students may choose to attend either Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School (“Voc-Tech”) in New Bedford or Bristol County Agricultural High School (“Bristol Aggie”) in Dighton, free of charge.

Two recent former elementary schools include Oxford School (closed 2007) and Rogers School (closed 2013). Oxford School opened in 1896 until it was merged with the newly reconstructed East Fairhaven School in 2007. Rogers School opened in 1885 as the first building donated to the town by Henry Huttleston Rogers. It remained open until 2013 when, like Oxford and East Fairhaven Schools, its student body was consolidated with that of LeRoy Wood School. As the new Wood School building was being constructed, its staff and students moved to the Oxford School building for the 2012–13 academic year. Oxford School was converted to residential apartments in 2022 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

The town is also home to Saint Joseph’s School, a Roman Catholic parochial school which provides an education from nursery through eighth-grade. The school is operated by the nearby Saint Joseph Church.

The Northeast Maritime Institute based in Fairhaven offers a two year program in Nautical Science and prepares students to work as deck officers or captains aboard ships. NMI owns several buildings in the center of town, including a former Unitarian Church and former bank.

Demographics

As of the census of 2020, there were 15,924 people, 8,423 households, and 4,354 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,303.4 inhabitants per square mile (503.2/km²). There were 7,266 housing units at an average density of 586.1 per square mile (226.3/km). The racial makeup of the town was 96.32% White, 0.60% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.19% from other races, and 1.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.84% of the population.

There were 6,622 households, out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. Of all households, 30.5% were made up of individuals, and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.7% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $79,432 and $50,384 per capita as of 2021. About 6.6% persons were below the poverty line. 28.9% of the population had a bachelor’s degree or higher and 91% had a high school degree.

Males had a median income of $38,201 versus $29,736 for females. About 6.5% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.