May History in Fairhaven
What happened in May through the years
May 1
1800 The New Bedford (later Fairhaven) Academy opens on the west side of Main Street, north of Bridge Street.
1915 The Oxford Branch of the Millicent Library opens at Oxford School with 835 books, 70 of which are in French.
1976 “American Moments,“ a bicentennial pageant by Mabel Hoyle Knipe, is presented by Fairhaven High School students and faculty at Elizabeth I. Hastings Junior High School.
1980 The first issue of The Advocate, a weekly newspaper, is published by Gilbert Vieira.
May 2
1967 Ground is broken for the addition to the Millicent Library.
May 3
1892 The cornerstone of the Millicent Library is laid.
1925 The new St. Joseph’s Church is dedicated.
2004 After 110 years of weekly winding, the mechanism of the Town Hall Clock is electrified.
May 4
2003 Willow Park at Fort and South streets is renamed Leonard E. Pierce Memorial Park in memory of the former National Bank of Fairhaven president, avid gardener and neighbor of the park who had tended a lovely perennial garden in the park for about a decade before his death.
May 5
1828 Joseph Bates Sr. dies at the age of 78. He was a Revolutionary War veteran, a deacon of the Congregational Church and a founder of the New Bedford (Fairhaven) Academy.
May 6
1795 At a Town Meeting it is voted to extend Main Street north from Fairhaven Village across the Herring River to Oxford Village.
1833 The sloop Helen begins ferry service on the Acushnet River. The fare is 6 ¼ cents and the ferry operates from sunrise to 8:00 p.m.
1868 Capt. Alexander Winsor begins a 118 day voyage sailing the clipper Herald of the Morning from New York to San Francisco.
2018 Fire destroys the Thomas Livesey Memorial Club building at 15 Hopkins Street.
2023 Town Meeting prohibits the use of thin-film single-use plastic bags, polystyrene plastic or expanded polystyrene (foam) food service packaging, and polystyrene foam cups. In a separate article Town Meeting prohibited the sale of alcohol "nip" bottles holding less than or equal to 100 milliliters.
May 7
1843 The ship John Howland arrives in port carrying Manjiro Nakahama, who is the first Japanese person to live in America.
1907 Two years before his death Henry H. Rogers records his will.
1930 The state legislature approves an act allowing Fairhaven to adopt a limited representative form of Town Meeting.
2000 The 150th anniversary of Riverside Cemetery is celebrated with a program including speakers and tours of the grounds.
2009 Following a fundraising effort by Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara of Japan and the purchase of the Capt. William Whitfield house at 11 Cherry Street by a group of Japanese donors, Dr. Hinohara presents the house as a gift to the Town of Fairhaven.
May 8
1830 Hiram Tripp buys from the Rotch family the lot at the southeast corner of William and Center streets for $183.65.
1902 Capt. Eben Pierce dies at the age of 84. Inventor of the Pierce Bomb Lance harpoon gun, the former whaling captain gave his old sloop Spray to Capt. Joshua Slocum in 1891.
1902 The dedication of the new Atlas Tack factory on Pleasant Street takes place.
May 9
1776 Levi Jenney marries Molly Blossom, daughter of Benjamin and Bathsheba Blossom.
2004 Following the showing of the film “Intermission,” the Bijou Theater in North Fairhaven closes.
2022 Former Select Board member Daniel Freitas dies at the age of 53 after a period of declining health.
May 10
1904 Captain John Charry of Main Street dies at the age of 79.
2003 The Fairhaven Heritage Center at the First Congregational Church holds its opening.
May 11
1739 Deborah (Delano) Egery is born to Jethro and Elizabeth (Pope) Delano.
1935 A new Cape Cod style cottage on Huttleston Avenue opens as the ice cream shop of the Rogers Brothers Dairy.
May 12
1929 The Fairhaven Iron Works factory on Ferry Street is destroyed by fire.
1972 Fire Chief Donald R. Bernard and members of the 4th Old Dartmouth Militia stage the first “Nathaniel Pope Day,” including a re-enactment of the first naval battle of the American Revolution.
1997 Rick Boyer, author of the Doc Adams series of suspense novels, visits Fairhaven to research locations for his next book, “The Man Who Whispered.”
May 13
1845 The whaleship Acushnet, Capt. Valentine Pease, returns from a whaling voyage to the Pacific. “Green hand” Herman Melville had hopped ship before the conclusion of the trip.
1901 The Concordia Lodge votes to accept the Masonic Building from Henry H. Rogers and to change the its name to George H. Taber Lodge.
May 14
1775 Fairhaven captains Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Egery and the crew of the sloop Success capture two British vessels in the outer harbor in the first naval battle of the American Revolution.
1914 Town Meeting votes to set aside a 12-acre portion of the Town Farm on the east side Main Street in North Fairhaven for park purposes.
May 15
1884 The cornerstone of Rogers School is laid.
1902 Financed by Henry H. Rogers, the new Atlas Tack factory is dedicated at Pleasant Street. It will soon be operating 20 hours a day.
1995 The Fairhaven-New Bedford Bridge is closed for major repairs that take eleven months. Just 18 days after its April 15, 1996, reopening, the bridge’s two new transmission units break down and the bridge is closed for another three weeks.
May 16
1846 The whaleship Franklin departs from New Bedford with Manjiro Nakahama on board as a steward.
1975 A Colonial Ball is held at the Town Hall as part of Nathaniel Pope Weekend.
May 17
1675 A month before the outbreak of the King Philip War, John Cooke, Arthur Hathaway and James Shaw are elected Selectmen.
1971 The organizational meeting of the newly appointed Fairhaven Historical Commission is held at the Millicent Library. Members of the Commission are Rita B. Steele, chair, Paul B. Drake, secretary, Mary Battaini, Elizabeth I. Hastings, Donald R. Bernard, Milton Delano, and Kenneth M. Wood Jr., chair of the Select Board.
1975 A re-enactment of the first naval battle of the American Revolution is staged off the shore of Fort Phoenix beach by Donald R. Bernard as part of Nathaniel Pope Weekend.
May 18
1821 Marriage intentions are filed for Mr. Hosea Reed and Miss Mercy Cornish.
1939 In the Fairhaven Star, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Adams of the Tabitha Inn announces she will open a restaurant known as the Skipper in a building on Middle Street south of Huttleston Avenue that was formerly the home of Furnan's Yacht Agency.
May 19
1902 The last service is held in the old Unitarian Church on Washington Street.
1909 Henry H. Rogers dies at his New York home at the age of 69.
1989 The “main office” of the high school is dedicated in honor of Evelyn (Teixeira) Martin, who retired the previous year after serving as the secretary to the principal for 45 years.
2001 The World War II aircraft spotting tower is re-dedicated by the West Island Improvement Association.
May 20
1851 William F. Nye, founder of Nye Oil Company, marries Mary Keith.
May 21
1894 Just three months after presenting the Town Hall to her hometown, Abby (Gifford) Rogers dies in New York following surgery for stomach cancer.
1905 The first Roman Catholic Mass in Fairhaven is celebrated in Phoenix Hall by the newly arrived Fathers of the Sacred Hearts.
1966 A ceremony marks the completion of the New Bedford-Fairhaven-Acushnet Hurricane Barrier.
2000 The new $19.4 million addition to Fairhaven High School is dedicated.
May 22
1886 George H. Taber, auctioneer, acting on behalf of the town, sells the old “Pink Schoolhouse” in North Fairhaven to Amos Rogers for $52.
1909 Henry H. Rogers’ memorial service is held at the Unitarian Memorial Church.
May 23
1855 Lightning strikes the chimney of a house belonging to “the Misses Pease,” splitting the building in two.
May 24
1796 The Second Church of Christ [First Congregational Church] receives its bell from the foundry of Paul Revere in Boston.
1833 At noon, the 70-ton steamboat Acushnet is launched from the shipyard of Fish and Delano to begin ferry service between Fairhaven and New Bedford.
May 25
1841 The whaleship Sharon, Howes Norris, captain, departs. Capt. Norris will be murdered before the voyage is over.
1940 Direct dial telephone service begins in greater New Bedford.
1943 A meeting held at the Millicent Library by a group of interested boys leads to the formation of the Fairhaven Boys Club.
1946 Naval architect William H. Hand Jr. of Middle Street, dies at the age of 70.
May 26
1828 William Rotch, son of Joseph Rotch, dies. He owned approximately 86 acres of land directly east of William Street at Fairhaven Village.
May 27
1895 Installation of electric poles and wiring for the trolley line begins.
May 28
1924 Captain Sheffel Read marries Miss Almira Hathaway.
1841 Trustees of the Center Congregational Church purchase land at the northeast corner of Center and Walnut streets from William Rotch Jr. to build their church.
May 29
1646 In Plymouth Sarah Jenney, daughter of John and Sarah (Carey) Jenney, marries Thomas Pope.
1841 The whaleship Heroine, Francis C. Smith, captain, departs for the Pacific Ocean.
May 30
1765 Elnathan Eldredge sells about 86 acres of his land east of Fairhaven Village to Joseph Rotch. This land, extending from William Street to Adams Street, was held in the family until after the death of William Rotch in 1828.
1868 The first "Memorial Day" parade in Fairhaven is held on the date ordered by General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, three years after the end of the Civil War. (Originally the holiday was called Decoration Day.)
1892 Cornerstone of Town Hall is laid in a public ceremony.
1943 An honor roll listing servicemen serving in WWII is dedicated. Built by American Legion Post 166, the honor roll is located at a small park at the southwest corner of Main Street and Huttleston Avenue.
May 31
1934 Fairhaven’s first police radio call is broadcast. Before this time, patrolmen had to telephone the police station at regular intervals from homes and businesses on their beats.
1997 Fairhaven native Christopher LeBlanc is named Executive Director of the Zeiterion Theatre in New Bedford.
2004 A flagpole just south of the Main Street overpass at Route I-195 is dedicated to the memory of veteran Charles F. Albaugh, who displayed a multitude of flags on the overpass for several months following the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.
COPYRIGHT © 2022, 2025 by Christopher J. Richard. All rights reserved.
I miss Leonard Pierce. Such a dedicated member of Fairhaven and the Unitarian church.
Thanks for the research you put in these posts about the town’s history.