Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1912 — TALKING OF INCORPORATING. [ARTICLE]

TALKING OF INCORPORATING.

Fair Oaks’ Progressive Citizens Want to Get Out of the Rut. F. R. Erwin was down from Fair Oaks on business a few hours Thursday. Fair Oaks is talking strongly of incorporating as a town, which it is thought will enable the residents to secure some needed improvements such as sidewalks, etc. It is a move in the right direction and should be encouraged. We remember some twenty-five (years ago when Fair Oaks was quite an important place, when, the C. & G. S. made connections with the New Albany railroad, (now Monon) and ran its trains over the latter road into Chicago. It was thought then that Fair Oaks was destined to become a big town, and the man who hadn’t bought a lot in the comipg metropolis was looked down upon with disdain by his more fortunate neighbors. But the sale of the “Great Suffering’’ road to the Eastern Illinois road and the construction of the Momence cut-off from Goodland killed the prospects of the budding metropolis—as it did other towns north of Goodland on that line—and the roundhouse and other buildings owned by the railroad company were torn down and removed. But Fair Oaks remained on the map, and is a better town today perhaps than it has ever been since the balmy days when It was the main squeeze for the Chicago & Great Southern railroad. The developement of the country has made it a better business point than ever before and a few wide-awake citizens like Felix Erwin can do much to bring the place out of the lethargic slate it has occupied for the last score of years. ' '