Charles Warren Fairbanks

Charles Warren Fairbanks (May 11, 1852 – June 4, 1918)
26th Vice President of the United States under President Theodore Roosevelt
In office March 4, 1905 – March 4, 1909

Born near Columbus, Ohio, Fairbanks and his wife, Cornelia Cole, moved to Indianapolis when he took a position as a lawyer for a railroad company. He developed this into a lucrative practice, specializing in transportation and corporate affairs, especially those of bankrupt railroads.

He also began supporting Republican candidates for office, and after becoming owner of the Indianapolis News in 1893, his support did not go unnoticed, especially by Ohio Governor William McKinley, for whom Fairbanks successfully campaigned to become president in 1896. Fairbanks, encouraged to run by President McKinley, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1898. As a Senator, he became the chairman of a U.S. delegation, which met with British and Canadian representatives to settle the Alaskan border. Because of this work, a town in Alaska changed its name to Fairbanks.

Upon President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, Fairbanks found himself as a leader in the Senate pushing forward his mentor’s policies. As a result, he was put on the 1904 Republican ticket with President Teddy Roosevelt, McKinley’s Vice President and successor. They were elected, but the two men were never very close, and Roosevelt even supported William Taft to succeed him rather than Fairbanks. He was on the ticket again in 1916 as the Vice Presidential Candidate with Charles Evans Hughes, but they were defeated by the re-election of Woodrow Wilson, leaving Fairbanks to return to his private practice until he died in 1918.

Location: Section 24, Lot 3; GPS (39.8175301,-86.1710511)