January History in Fairhaven, MA
What happened in town this month in history.
JANUARY 1
1906, Construction of the original St. Joseph’s Church is completed.
1910, Henry DeW. H. Browne assumes proprietorship of the drugstore in the Phoenix building from Levi M. Snow.
1947, The Millicent Library reduces its operating hours from 76 a week to 63 a week.
1950, At the age of 76, William D. Champlin resigns from the position of Town Clerk/Treasuer.
1951, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church on Park Avenue is dedicated.
JANUARY 2
1940, Leonard E. Pierce begins working at the National Bank of Fairhaven.
JANUARY 3
1841, At about noon on this cold Sunday, Herman Melville sails from Fairhaven in the whaleship Acushnet.
1888, Franklin B. Dexter Franklin Dexter, a descendant of John Cooke, in a lecture delivered to the Fairhaven Improvement Association, says of his Pilgrim ancestor, “his bones doubtless rest in the neglected if not forgotten burying-ground on this side of Oxford Village.” It is the earliest known suggestion that John Cooke may have been buried in what later became Cooke Memorial Park. This assertion, coming nearly 200 years after Cooke's death, has no primary documentation to back it up.
1899, Henry H. Rogers addresses the audience at the dedication of Mattapoisett’s Center School, which he donated to that town.
JANUARY 4
1847, The whaleship Omega , Israel Morey, captain, departs for the Indian Ocean on what will be a voyage of about 3½ years.
JANUARY 5
1744, The new meeting house at Head of the River (Acushnet) is dedicated. It stands next to the burial ground, west of Parting Ways.
1993, State Senator William Q. “Biff” MacLean Jr. retires from public office. He was first elected to serve on the Fairhaven School Committee in 1960 and was elected a state representative later the same year.
2006, Weekly publication of the Fairhaven Neighborhood News is begun by Elizabeth “Beth” David, to replace the Free Press, which had ceased publication three weeks earlier.
JANUARY 6
1879, The Fairhaven STAR reports that the Acushnet River is frozen enough that people are crossing from Oxford Village to Pope’s Island.
1903, The parish house of the Unitarian Memorial Church is dedicated.
JANUARY 7
1862, At 7:30 p.m. the main building of the Empire Rock Oil Company, owned by William P. Handy and Barnabas Ewer Jr., is consumed by fire.
2021, Town Administrator Mark Rees retires after serving in the position for five years.
JANUARY 8
1897, The official dedication ceremony for Oxford School is held at the Town Hall, with Superintendent of Schools E.B. Gray serving as master of ceremonies.
JANUARY 9
1823, The First Congregational Church votes to ask the Reverend William Gould to serve as acting pastor.
1832, In what is said to be the first instance of a building in Fairhaven Village being destroyed by fire, Noah C. Sturtevant loses a barn and its contents estimated to be worth about $1,000.
1873, Alfred Manchester is installed as the pastor of the Unitarian Church.
JANUARY 10
1832, Henry Huttleston, Fairhaven businessman and grandfather of Henry H. Rogers, dies at the age of 64.
1940, Fairhaven High School principal Chester M. Downing announces that Fairhaven will cease athletic competitions with Fall River’s Durfee High School because of “a series of unpleasant experiences.”
2020, "Junkie," a short film written and directed by Fairhaven native and URI student Alyssa Botelho, is screened in the auditorium of the Town Hall.
JANUARY 11
1832, A meeting of subscribers to build a Christian meeting house on Washington Street is held at the home of Warren Delano.
1890, The town votes to accept the layout for a road from Main Street to the proposed terminus of the Coggeshall Street Bridge.
1968, In the Phoenix Press, 38-year-old Channing Hayward announces his candidacy for the office of Fairhaven Planning Board.
JANUARY 12
1706, Jabez Delano, son of Jonathan and Amy (Hatch) Delano, is born.
1923, The American Theatre opens on Main Street opposite Oxford School. The new brick building has store fronts and the theater on the first floor and offices and a large hall above.
1932, Bradford W. Luther becomes a director of the National Bank of Fairhaven.
JANUARY 13
1647, Seth Pope is born to Thomas and Sarah (Jenney) Pope.
JANUARY 14
1849, The members of the First Congregational Church vote to allow members of the defunct Centre Congregational Church to worship with them.
1890, Frank “Eben” Brown is born to Frank and Hannah (Richardson) Brown. He will serve as a selectman, state representative and Postmaster.
1976, Mrs. Mary D. Silveira, 67, is murdered in her home at 235 Green Street. The case is never solved.
JANUARY 15
1718, Susanna Jenney, daughter of Hannah and Samuel Jenney Jr., marries Stephen West Jr., son of Stephen and Mercy (Cooke) West.
1818, Joseph Bates Jr., who will go on to found the Seventh Day Advent Church, is married to Prudence M. Nye. The ceremony is performed by A. Wheeler.
JANUARY 16
1888, Dr. George Atwood, highly esteemed village M.D. and first president of the Fairhaven Library Association, dies.
JANUARY 17
1898, Warren Delano II, a China Trader and the grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, dies at the age of 88. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery, which he created in 1850.
1945, Scottish born florist Peter Murray dies at the age of 75. Murray had been the gardener for Walter P. Winsor and developed a carnation that was chosen by Queen Mary as her coronation flower. He later established greenhouses on Washington Street.
1960, Magician/mentalist Jon Stetson is born.
JANUARY 18
1792, Ruby (Eldredge) Merrihew, widow of Stephen Merrihew and great grandmother of Henry H. Rogers, married her second husband, Jethro Allen.
JANUARY 19
1831, The whaleship Albion, John E. Coggeshall, captain, departs on a voyage to the South Atlantic.
1946, At 10:15 p.m., fire alarm box 53 is sounded, summoning firefighters to the blaze that will destroy the first Centre Methodist Church building.
JANUARY 20
1841, Abbie Palmer Gifford is born to Capt. Peleg and Amelia (Hammond) Gifford. She will become the first Mrs. Henry H. Rogers.
1904, Marine artist Charles H. Gifford, age 66, dies at his home on Lafayette Street.
1929, John I. Bryant, selectmen for a total of 25 years during three different periods beginning in 1887, dies at the age of 79.
JANUARY 21
1729, The Reverend Samuel Hunt, the first ordained minister of the Church of Christ at Head of the River, dies at the age of 48.
1858, The Fairhaven Branch Railroad station at Ferry Street is destroyed by fire.
JANUARY 22
1936, Seven women move into the Kings Daughters Home for the Aged on Center Street, which has been donated by the estate of George Howland Cox. In 1969 the home will be renamed Bradford-Russell.
JANUARY 23
1888, Benjamin F. Beetle sells the lot now numbered 103 Green Street to David N. Kelley, who will build a house there.
2005, A blizzard drops about 30 inches of snow on the region, closing schools for a week.
JANUARY 24
1996, A public meeting is held at Town Hall to outline the proposal for a Poverty Point Historic District. The proposal is later withdrawn because of opposition from property owners in the neighborhood.
JANUARY 25
2005, Norman H. Reid, caretaker of River-Side Cemetery for more than 50 years, dies at the age of 96. Mr. Reid inherited the position from his father Hay B. Reid and handed it down to his son Peter.
JANUARY 26
1852, Classes are held for the first time at the original Fairhaven High School, which the town started in the former Methodist Church building on Main Street.
JANUARY 27
1902, A lavish dinner hosted by Henry H. Rogers celebrates the 50th anniversary of the original Fairhaven High School.
1845, The Whitfield Building, 54 Main Street, originally the home of the Princess Theatre, is purchased by American Legion Post 166, which had been meeting at that location for several years.
JANUARY 28
1850, Former privateer and veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Capt. Noah Stoddard, dies at the age of 95.
JANUARY 29
1840, Henry H. Rogers is born to Rowland and Mary (Huttleston) Rogers.
1883, The Fairhaven Improvement Association is founded with Edward A. Dana as its first president.
1912, The memorial monument to Henry H. Rogers, installed on the median strip at Huttleston Avenue and Main Street, is dedicated in a ceremony held at Town Hall.
JANUARY 30
1873, Millicent Gifford Rogers, the third daughter of Henry H. and Abbie Rogers, is born.
1893, On what would have been the late Millicent Rogers’ twentieth birthday, the Millicent Library is dedicated in her memory.
JANUARY 31
1872, The new railroad locomotive “Charles L. Wood,” also known as No. 385, arrives in town.
1926, Galen W. Hill ends his service as Librarian of the Millicent Library.
2000, Bernard R. Roderick retires from the position of Superintendent of Schools.
COPYRIGHT 2022, 2024 by Christopher J. Richard. All Rights Reserved.
Thank you. I so enjoyed reading what happened during the month. My favorite: Jan. 3 1841, At about noon on this cold Sunday, Herman Melville sails from Fairhaven in the whaleship Acushnet.