Fairland, Texas

Several families from the eastern states settled here in the early 1850s. It is on a strip of level land between Backbone Ridge and the Slaughter Range, which they called "fair land". Some of those settlers included John Harvey, Jefferson Barton, and several families surnamed Cates, Thomas, Atwood, Graham, Slaughter, Joy, Reed, Alexander, Ferguson, and Chesser. Senia Barton Harvey was given a land grant for a Methodist church in 1859. Residents helped to build a church building made out of stone, but it was halted by the Civil War, since many of the male residents left to fight. As a result, it was not completed until 1870. The first church service was held by Rev. Arter Crownover. The Bear Creek Circuit, which was the third quarterly Methodist conference from Lampasas, named the house and lot Crownover Chapel on July 13, 1872. A picnic was held after the completion of the church. Three years later, a Christian Church was built. Then, a Church of Christ was built in 1887. When the congregation disbanded, they met in different homes, starting in 1937. They then joined a group in nearby Marble Falls. A post office was established at Fairland in 1890 and remained in operation until 1951, but the first one was built in 1874 and was called Backbone Valley. Local mail was then sent to the community from Marble Falls. Fairland had a population of 200 in 1925. It then plummeted to 50 in 1939 and remained at that level through the mid-1960s. The old rock church building continued to be maintained by the community and became a community center in the late 1980s. A cemetery located next to the church is on 7 acres (2.8 ha) of land, with the first grave dating to 1857. Fairland was still listed on county maps in 1990 and had a population of 290 in 2000.[2]

The Austin Western Railroad and Austin and Northwestern Railroads travel through the community.

Fairland is located on Farm to Market Road 1855, 6 mi (9.7 km) north of Marble Falls[2] and 9 mi (14 km) south of Burnet in Burnet County.[3]

In 1859, a school was built on Senia Harvey's land grant. A school was also started in the local Methodist church. The rock church building had an extra room added for a classroom for many years. The school, along with the Tobey school, came together in 1937 and joined the Marble Falls independent school District sometime after 1943.[2] It continues to be served by Marble Falls ISD today, with elementary kids attending Colt Elementary.