Fairview History

From Courage Enough

by Ralph Chase, Mildred Gardner, Flora Heinle, Chester Hillman, Marj Johnson and Aneta Vitt

Lewis Newlon was the founder and promoter of Fairview. He was born December 15, 1878 at Lincoln, Nebraska, but to him, Montana was his home. He came to what was to be Fairview in 1903. He built a claim shack which was a bit larger than most claim shacks, It had five rooms and was built of sod. It was the first house built on the townsite of Fairview.

Even in that early day, Lewis Newlon had in mind the building of a town. The lay of the land was of such as to encourage railroad building, In 1903, about the time he built his residence he also established himself in the mercantile business. His store was finished before his home and was known as the Farmers Store.

In 1907 a competitor built a store and it was the first competitor in his line of business. In 1907 he sold his store and turned his entire attention to the development and growth of Fairview. He platted three blocks in the line of his homestead, bordering on the Dakota line, as a townsite and gave it the name of Fairview. This was in January 1904, and at that time he offered a business lot at one dollar to anyone who would erect a place of business. The offer stimulated building to some extent but the town’s growth continued slowly.

Various lines of industry were begun in the Fairview area before the coming of the railroad, which brought a real boom to the area. Mr. Newlon gave a gift of 96 acres of land to the railroad to be used as a right-of-way.

January 4, 1912 the first steel was laid into the town of Fairview. Within a week traffic with the outside world was carried on by rail. One of the business houses erected was occupied by Maxson Mercantile. He became a stockholder in the Delaney Bank, later called First National Bank. The Albert Hotel Company was formed at this time and this was to be one of the outstanding hotels in the area for many years.

In the year 1913 the City of Fairview was incorporated and Lewis Newlon was elected the first mayor and served in that capacity for three years. He was succeeded by Dr. Perkins.

Fairview grew rapidly during the time and had two doctors at one time, a dentist, a lawyer and a thriving drug store along with other business places.

Industry had a part in the growth of Fairview as well. The Gedney Pickle Company was established there in 1925, a creamery and cheese plant in 1924 and Blue Rock Products was established in 1913.