The
Story
so far....
As compiled
by Scott
Last edited 08/02/2011
Edward
B. Fairchild was from a prominent winemaking family
in upstate New York who came to Oklahoma Territory
before the Land Run of 1889. Founding the winery in
1884, around 1887 he started using the area's
abundant sandstone deposits to build an arched vault
over a natural spring. By the time of the Land Run,
he was well-positioned to quench the thirst of the
hoards of settlers pouring in.
According
to the 1890
census, Fairchild was also co-proprietor of The
Indiana House restaraunt with an M. S. Warner
which was located at the NW corner of Main and
Robinson and another located on Grand between Santa
Fe and Broadway. Still another lists Broadway between
3rd and 4th Streets--all in apparent partnership with
Warner. He also had at least a passing association
with the creation of the first Catholic Dioscese in
the city and its first meeting took place at the
Indiana House. Civil war records show a Union Army
Chaplain named Fairchild from New York receiving a
pension and settling in this area, but so far I have
been unable to ascertain if this is the same person.
Referred
to locally as The Antenna Farm; the fields between
the towers still show evidence of massive herds of
buffalo that made their wallers in this part
of the country. According to the old timers, it was
near here that Fairchild built his first underground
structure, which was little more than a hole in the
ground. Disregarding the advice of his family, he may
have instead taken the advice of experts such as the
legendary T.V. Munson on the quality of Oklahoma
grapes at the time. Fairchild built a wooden windmill--with
blades five feet each in length--pumping water
through canals to supply his grapevines with plenty
of water. His system of canals worked so well that,
when the site was rediscovered in the 1970s, they
were reportedly still operational.
The US 5th Cavalry, Troop C was
responsible for rounding up claim jumpers,
townsiters, and distributors of "ardent spirits".
At
it's peak, production at the winery exceeded 5500
Gallons annually. When Oklahoma became a state in
1907, the adoption of prohibition put the winery out
of business. Prohibition was amazingly not repealed
in Oklahoma until 1959 though drinking seems to have
remained extremely popular. When Fairchild sold the
property after statehood, little is recorded of the
activities here, if any--though the infamous Kentucky
Club was located only a little over a mile
to the South after around 1930.
By the 1970s, a garbage dump had covered
the site until the cellar was located--still intact--by
intrepid former Mayor George Shirk in 1973, also head
of the Oklahoma Historical Society, the same year he
discovered the legendary Underground
Chinese Tunnels in downtown Oklahoma
City. The Mayor acquired the property and the
cellar was restored and used--along with a Santa Fe
Railroad caboose, no longer on the property--for
entertaining and for meetings of the Oklahoma
Wine & Rasslin' Society. This is no doubt a
story in itself, a fact confirmed by local icon Byron
Gambulus in an episode of KFOR-TV's, "Is
This A Great State Or What?".
George Shirk was apparently quite
a character.
. 
