Fairborn in the postwar era. Fairborn shared in the suburban dispersal from Dayton after WWII.  As Wright-Patterson lost its industrial role after the war, the blue collar workforce here was probably commuting in to factory work in Dayton. 

 

 

 

Fairborn grew south to the Five Points area, and Little Kentucky became incorporated into town.  New shopping centers opened in the 1960s and 70s, but would later be vacated and partially abandoned as newer shopping opportunities opened along I-675.

 

 

 

 

 

Postwar housing started small, resembling somewhat wartime housing, but using modern styling.  Housing grew larger as the decades passed.

 

Early postwar housing  (to 1956) north of the old part of Fairborn,

 

 

 

…with housing getting larger later into the period (1956-1968)

 

 

But the main subdivision action was south of town.  Let’s hop into this old Packard Clipper …..

 

 

….and drive south, up Maple into the hills of suburbia.

 

 

Early postwar suburbia south, close to town…..

 

 

 

Climing the hills….

 

 

 

 

….To Five Points (more apartments up here)

 

 

 

Housing in the Five Points area

 

 

Five Points shopping, most of these shopping centers are dead or marginally in use, with the usual Dayton-area older suburb mix of dollar/discount/thrift stores and fringe banking….

 

 

 

 

A side tripto the moribund Skyway shopping center on Kaufman Avenue, killed by the mall.  Intersting use here is the munciple court.

 

 

 

Later postwar housing …1970s to present

 

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When I-675 was finally completely open in 1986 a suburban boom began at the interchanges, first in the Wright State University/Colonel Glenn Highway area, which, together with the Fairfield Mall, developed into a local version of an edge city. 

 

In the later 1990s, Valle Greene opened a new frontier in suburban development for Fairborn, with mix of uses..

 

 

 

Drving into Valle Greene.  CEMEX cement plant on the horizon to the right.  CEMEX property forms sort of a buffer to the east.

 

 

 

Valle Greene offices….The lower left building was the first one in Valle Green and stood alone for a few years until the economy improved to permit more development.

 

 

Shovel ready for new construction, paralleling the interstate

 

 

Retail  (including a Kroger moved from Five Points….)

 

 

….and housing.

 

 

 

But old Fairborn continues on, closer to the base.  Though called “Fairboring” and “Squareborn” by people in the Dayton region,  it is one of Dayton’s more unpretentious, down-home suburbs, yet colorful in its own way.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for a few close-ups on the older parts of Fairborn.

 

Never cared for Fairborn but interesting thread, nonetheless.

The thing about Fairborn is that one is seeing aspects of the "declining inner ring suburb", but the town is pretty far out, at the edge of the urbanized area...it's not physically "inner ring".