Fairbanks

On May 11, 1852, Charles Warren Fairbanks - a future vice president of the United States and the man for whom Fairbanks, Alaska, was named - was born in a log cabin in Union County, Ohio.

Fairbanks worked his way through Ohio Wesleyan University, serving as editor of the school paper before graduating in 1872. He became a reporter for the Associated Press in Cleveland and studied law, earning a degree from the Cleveland Law College in 1874.

He took a job as a claims attorney for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, which required moving to Indianapolis. A Republican, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1897. In 1898, he helped settle border disputes between Alaska and Canada. For that, the city of Fairbanks was named in his honor. Theodore Roosevelt selected Fairbanks as his running mate in 1904, and he was vice president until 1909.

Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361.