By 1883, Fairfield was viewed by some as a resort for people who lived in New York and Bridgeport.

The town had two hotels, The Fairfield House and The Allen House, and both won high praise for their accommodations, according to Thomas J. Farnham's book, "Fairfield, The Biography of a Community 1639-1989."

The Fairfield House, which was on Main Street, now called Old Post Road, included 100 rooms, an immense ballroom, a dining room nearly as large as the ballroom, and a bowling alley, Farnham's book says.

In 1880, 24 trains arrived daily in Fairfield from New York and New Haven — up from 12 a day a decade earlier, Farnham's book said.

Those who wanted to travel between Fairfield and New York by water could ride a train to South Norwalk and pick up the "Nelly Green." A round trip on the boat cost $1.25.

But many New Yorkers who visited Fairfield in the 1880s liked the town so much that they built houses. The Old Post Road and the Southport and Mill Plain sections of town were particularly desirable, and by 1893 New York developers were willing to pay $1,000 an acre for farmland there.

Fairfield Beach may be a desirable place to live today, but residents in 1883 avoided living there due to storms, swarms of mosquitoes and the condition of roads.

The town in 1880, the most recent census before 1883, had 3,748 residents. In 1890, that figure climbed to 3,868. But labor rates paid to many Fairfield residents seem miniscule when compared to the $900,000

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fortunes of many of the town's new arrivals. The town in September 1883 paid $5 to Frederick Sherwood for a day's labor with a team of horses, and, three months later, paid John B. Morehouse $2 for repairing a small bridge. Henry Rowland fared better in getting $9.50 from the town, but he had to provide 95 loads of gravel, according to documents in the Town Clerk's office.

Fairfield had 14 schools in 1881, the closest available data to 1883, but only 803 students. A male teacher around that time made $46.42 a month, compared to $36.90 a month for a female teacher. The annual budget for the public schools in 1883 totaled $8,885, according to town documents.

Fairfield's form of government in 1883 was much different from today.

A Board of Selectmen, rather than a first selectman, governed the town, and votes were taken by a town meeting of residents, as opposed to the Representative Town Meeting that exists today.