Fairview District Orientation

Fairview District Orientation

NPS Photo/Daniel Cox

The first wave of settlers arrived in fall of 1877 and stayed in and around the town site of Nicodemus until spring. Once warmer weather arrived, people left the safety of the town site and went to their homesteads. As settlers established claims, they formed satellite communities, including this one they called Fairview. Using crude hoes and spades they brought from Kentucky, families broke virgin sod for agricultural use. By the end of 1878, the average homesteader planted three to fifty acres of winter wheat.Tom Johnson and his family were among the first settlers to venture out of Nicodemus. He homesteaded northwest of here on Spring Creek. Many families and friends who traveled together to Nicodemus homesteaded near one another. His friend and first pastor Rev. Lee as well as Tom’s daughters, Emma (Williams) and Ella, and his son Henry claimed adjacent lands. After holding services in his dugout and hosting the first baptism on Spring Creek, Tom helped organize the First Baptist Church in Nicodemus. The Fairview are had its own school.