09/15/2022
Fairfax Town Library Project
The Fairfax Town Library, built around 1881, was the home of Dr. William Jasper Young and his wife, Virginia Durant Young, an American suffragist, author, and owner of the weekly Fairfax Enterprise newspaper. The structure is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and is a landmark in the Town of Fairfax.
The project centers on the life of Mrs. Young, born in Georgetown, SC, on March 10, 1842. When she was 16-years-old, she married Benjamin H. Covington and moved to Mississippi. After Covington died in 1879, she married Dr. Young of Fairfax in 1880. From their home in Fairfax, Mrs. Young began participating in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and writing temperance columns for the Hampton Guardian and other newspapers. She became editor and later sole owner of the Fairfax Enterprise around 1899, one of only a few women newspaper owners in the nation during that period.
Helping to advance the women’s suffrage movement in South Carolina, by 1890, Young had co-founded the South Carolina Equal Rights Association (SCERA), which later became affiliated with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Mrs. Young's pioneering efforts in the movement helped blaze a trail for women from her home in Fairfax to the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where women finally gained the right to vote in 1919, years after her death on November 2, 1906.
Mr. and Mrs. Young’s home was established as a library as per the will of Dr. William Jasper Young upon his death in 1920.
Over the years, parts of the building have deteriorated and need significant repair. Plans are underway to restore the site, which will add a special point of interest in Allendale County as part of the Lower Savannah Council of Governments' Thoroughbred Country recreation and tourism efforts. The Thoroughbred region consists of Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, and Barnwell Counties to attract visitors to South Carolina to experience the state's historical sites and natural habitats.
The project will aim to rehabilitate the structure to house the library, a museum, and a tourism post and continue to promote literacy, giving the public access to books, educational materials, and other resources that connect people with information.
Incorporating the artifacts, history, and educational resources that reflect the life of Mrs. Young as the owner of the Fairfax Enterprise newspaper and an active contributor to the national women's suffrage movement will connect visitors to a transformative past. As well, the medical contributions and treatments of Dr. William Jasper Young during the nineteenth century will allow for a historical glimpse of the medical treatments of the day.
