Franklin Fairbanks

Biography

Franklin Fairbanks (1828-1895) turned his family’s scale-making enterprise into a national name, leading Fairbanks Scales in innovation and quality that supported railroads, mills, and commerce across the country. His business acumen was matched by a vision for responsible industry that paid close attention to the needs of workers and the wider community.

He invested those resources in civic institutions, lending energetic support to education and charitable causes near Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where he now rests, so that others might share in the prosperity he helped to build.