The Fairmont House on Willowcrest Avenue

The Fairmont family established their house on Willowcrest Avenue in 1908 after Charles Fairmont purchased the property following his promotion as a regional railway administrator. Three generations lived there, including Charles, his wife Eleanor, their children, and later grandchildren who shared the large residence. The family income came from railway management, land investments, and transportation contracts along the East Coast.

Historical records describe the house as a carefully maintained family home with active use of the enclosed porch, library, and upper rooms during the years when the railway business remained secure.

The first warning sign appeared in 1927 when Fairmont Railway Services recorded declining contracts and delayed payments from regional operators. After the economic downturn of the early 1930s reduced railway activity, Charles dismissed household workers and closed several upper bedrooms to reduce expenses. Repairs to the slate roof, enclosed porch, and wooden trim were postponed as taxes and household costs increased. Following Charles’s death in 1932, inheritance disagreements among family members delayed decisions about the property. By 1935, unpaid debts and legal disputes forced Eleanor and the remaining Fairmont family members to leave Willowcrest Avenue.

The Fairmont House was abandoned in 1936 after foreclosure followed years of railway decline, unpaid debts, and unresolved inheritance disputes. No restoration occurred, and no Fairmont descendants returned after leaving Willowcrest Avenue. Municipal records noted complicated ownership transfers and continued deterioration of the vacant residence. The interior rooms remained closed, preserving family papers and furnishings left behind. Over the decades, moisture damage, weather exposure, and structural wear affected the clapboard walls and slate roof. The Colonial Revival and Gothic Revival house remains empty on the residential street, slowly deteriorating without restoration or confirmed future use.