Mound Prairie

Fairfield, the county seat of Freestone County, is at the junction of Interstate Highway 45, U.S. highways 75 and 84, and Farm roads 27, 488, and 1580, in the center of the county. The site was originally called Mound Prairie, but the name was changed to Fairfield when the location was chosen for the county seat in 1850. The original townsite, 100 acres of the Redin Gainer league, was donated by David Hall Love. In 1851–52, 128 lots were auctioned off for prices ranging from six dollars to $101. Rich farmland, vast amounts of timber, clear springs, and proximity to the Trinity River for transportation attracted settlers from the eastern states. Fairfield acquired a post office in 1851 and by September 1852 had three dry-goods stores, two hotels, a grocery, and a jail. A Fairfield Masonic lodge chartered in 1853 was still active in 1989. The first of four courthouses, a small wooden building described as "no better than a pigsty," was built about 1852. New courthouses were built—in 1854–56, at a cost of $8,330; in 1891–92, at a cost of $22,120; and in 1919–21, at a cost of $125,000. In 1891 and 1918 the need for a new courthouse led to county-seat elections in which Fairfield defeated Wortham and Teague, respectively.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.