Week of November 5th, 2007
History of the City of Fairhope
The City of Fairhope began with a group of people dreaming of utopia. The first Single-Tax colonists (a group of 28 originally from Des Moines, Iowa, who espoused the utopian economic theories of Henry George, who advocated no taxes other than a single land tax), looked at land throughout the South and Midwest U.S. before pooling their funds to purchase land and settle in November, 1894 on a high bluff overlooking Mobile Bay, the site of the former Alabama City.
According to legend, one of the group said the new colony had a fair hope of success and the community of Fairhope was born. Based on a spirit of cooperative individualism, the Single Tax Colony, now known as “Fairhope Industrial Association” attracted followers and financial support from around the country, drawing a diverse group of hard-working and creative individualists to Fairhope.
The city of Fairhope was started in 1908 and provided all municipal services to approximately 500 residents. Fairhope has always been a resort community. Early visitors came by Bayboat from Mobile to vacation in the small bay cottages and hotels along the bluff top, attracted by its pleasant climate, peaceful surroundings and breathtaking beauty. Over the years, Fairhope has transformed from utopian experiment to writers’, artists’, craftsmen and intellectual’s colony, to boutique resort and affluent neighbor of Mobile. They have all helped to make the community what it is today.
In the 1930s, the city became the official caretaker of some of Fairhope’s best assets, including the beachfront park, the park lands on the bluff above the beach, Henry George Park, Knoll Park and the quarter-mile long Fairhope Pier, all gifts of the Fairhope Single Tax Association, which continues to have an active presence in the city today, with 1800 leaseholds covering more than 4,000 acres.
Fairhope draws visitors from around the world who come to enjoy its natural beauty and its vibrant downtown filled with unique shops and galleries, gourmet restaurants, cozy cafes and more. A growing community of over 12,000 residents, Fairhope is also much more than just one of the prettiest small towns in the South. The city leads the way for others with active recycling programs, a state-of-the art water treatment system, involved citizens (over 70 percent report doing some type of volunteer work) and a plan to maintain the city’s high quality of life through controlled growth and development.
The creator of a popular board game must have once visited Fairhope as well. A little-known fact is that "Fairhope Avenue" was one of the properties on the 1910 version of the board game "The Landlord’s Game", which today is known as “Monopoly".