Meeting set at Fairfield Village
As part of the county’s Bicentennial Celebration, the Warren County Commission will be holding a special called meeting in the Fairfield Village courthouse at the Warren County A&L Fairgrounds on Friday, Feb. 1 to commemorate the first official commission meeting held in February of 1808.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m., but festivities will commence at 5:30 p.m. with a gospel singing at the Fairfield Village church. In addition to the courthouse and church, the McMinnville Electric System cabin will be open with hot drinks available, the Heritage Alliance building will be open with Bicentennial memorabilia and merchandise for sale. The official documents establishing Warren County will be on display. Also on display will be documents from various state and federal officials congratulating Warren County on its Bicentennial.
This officially sanctioned Warren County Bicentennial event is free of charge and is open to the public. In keeping with the theme of the meeting, those participating or attending the event are asked, if possible, to dress in period attire.
According to County Executive John Pelham, this will be an officially sanctioned commission meeting where county business will be conducted, including a vote on the official resolution designating the county’s Bicentennial Celebration.
‘One of the important things about this to me is the significance of meeting at the fairgrounds,’ Pelham said. ‘Because the month of February in 1808 marked the first official court meeting of Warren County, with a deed being recorded being the first official business conducted.’
The location of the meeting is also of major import, Pelham said.
‘The courthouse at Fairfield Village is built on the foundation, the actual stone foundation, of the original building,’ Pelham said. ‘They moved that from Tanyard Springs to the fairgrounds. So that’s the significance of meeting there. We will actually be meeting on the foundation of the original building where 200 years ago we had our first county business conducted.’
Pelham said meeting will be conducted as a regular commission meeting with the business conducted going into the county record.
‘We will have a docket that evening,’ Pelham said. ‘And on that docket we will have a resolution to vote on. And assuming we have a quorum, which we hope we will, since all the commissioners have been notified, the business we do that night, the roll call of commissioners, the resolution that’s passed, the names of the 12 original commissioners, all of the history we’re going to present that night on the docket, all of that will be entered into our official minutes at the Administrative building as a part of our history for years to come.’
Pelham says he, along with the Bicentennial Steering Committee, feels it is important to hold this kind of event to commemorate Warren County’s history.
‘This is our heritage, where we came from, who we are,’ Pelham said. ‘It’s a chance to honor the sacrifices that were made, the people who paved the road for us. A chance to look back at what our forefathers accomplished, their vision, the knowledge and expertise they showed in establishing our county. It’s certainly worthy of our time to recognize their efforts, to remember, to pay tribute.’