FAIRFIELD — Fairfield’s downtown arch over Texas Street proudly proclaims the city as the Solano County seat.
The city is far more than that. It is home to Travis Air Force Base and has such attractions as the Budweiser brewery, Jelly Belly, Solano Mall, the Rancho Solano and Paradise Valley golf courses and neighborhoods both new and dating back to the 19th century.
But Fairfield owes its 1856 birth to Solano County government. Nearby Suisun City at the time had the waterfront shipping access that made pioneer era towns thrive. One writer of the era called Fairfield a treeless plain.
Capt. Robert Waterman looked for assets that would allow him to establish Fairfield on his landholdings. He offered the county land where it could build a government center. Voters in 1858 took him up on the offer and approved moving the county seat from Benicia to Fairfield.
Suddenly, Fairfield had a reason for being, though it still played second fiddle to Suisun City for many decades. Besides its wharf on the Suisun Slough, Suisun City secured a train station during an era when trains were the major transportation force. Suisun City, not Fairfield, got the brick downtown buildings and grand Victorian homes.
Things began to change in the years after Fairfield switched from being a town to an incorporated city in 1903. The state highway was built around 1913 and it passed through Fairfield. The Auto Age would transform the city in coming decades, as would the establishment of Travis Air Force Base during World War II.
Fairfield’s population grew from about 400 in 1880 to 834 in 1910 to 3,118 in 1950. Then highways became freeways, suburbs began being built and long-distance commutes to work became common. Fairfield turned on the growth afterburners, with its population increasing to 44,114 by 1980, 77,211 by 1996 and 96,178 by 2000.
Today, Fairfield has 105,321 residents, according to Census 2010. Of that total, 27.3 percent are Hispanic of any race and the remainder are 35.27 percent white, 15.2 percent black, 14.5 percent Asian, 6.1 percent two or more races, 1 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, .4 percent American Indian or Native Alaskan and .2 percent some other race.
Fairfield’s median household income is $68,009, compared to $60,883 for California.
The city covers 37.3 square miles and plans to grow. It is preparing to annex land near Travis Air Force Base for a community built around a proposed train station. If the vision becomes a reality, Fairfield will add several thousand new homes, along with new businesses and industry.
But one factor has remained constant for Fairfield across the decades, even as the city has seen its fortunes change and growth come at a rate that its founder could scarcely have foreseen — it is still the Solano County seat.
Reach Barry Eberling at 427-6929, or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/beberlingdr.
Fairfield
- City Hall: 1000 Webster St., 428-7400
- Website: http://www.fairfield.ca.gov
- Mayor: Harry Price – Elected to council in 1997. Current term expires November 2013. Reach at 428-7395 or 422-4455 or [email protected].
- Vice Mayor: Rick Vaccaro – Appointed to council in 2008, elected 2011. Term expires November 2015. Reach at 249-3533 or [email protected].
- City Councilwoman: Pam Bertani – Elected to council in 2011. Term expires November 2015. Reach at 628-6974 or [email protected].
- City Councilwoman: Catherine Moy – Appointed to council in 2008, elected 2009. Term expires November 2013. Reach at 480-8837 or [email protected].
- City Councilman: John Mraz – Elected to council in 2005. Term expires November 2013. Reach at 580-5712 or [email protected].
- City Manager: Sean Quinn. Reach at 428-7400.
