Beginning in the late 1860s, Fairview developed a one-street commercial district along the old territorial road running through the middle of town. In 1869 a Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution was started in Fairview. Other stores and businesses followed, so that by 1900 Fairview's downtown could boast of a public library, several general stores, a furniture store, a creamery, a harness shop, a butcher shop, and two hotels. In 1881 a Presbyterian mission school was funded, with a chapel being erected in 1894. A good public school system was established in the 1890s; 497 of Fairview's 1,800 population in 1898 were students. Recreational needs were accommodated in a social hall and the Eclipse Pavilion.