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Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, on a sloping plateau, along the cliffs and shoreline of Mobile Bay. The 2000 census lists the population of the city as 12,480. History
Fairhope was founded in November, 1894 as a utopian single tax colony by the "Fairhope Industrial Association": a group of 28 followers of economist Henry George who had incorporated earlier that year in Des Moines, Iowa. Their corporate constitution explained their purpose in founding a new colony:
In forming their demonstration project, they pooled their funds to purchase land at "Stapleton's pasture" on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay and then divided it into a number of long-term leaseholds. The corporation paid all governmental taxes from rents paid by the lessees, thus simulating a single-tax. The purpose of the singe-tax colony was to eliminate disincentives for productive use of land and thereby retain the value of land for the community, offering "a fair hope of success" and a clear vision. "Fairhope Avenue" was one of the properties on the 1910 version of the board game "The Landlord's Game". Today this game is known as "Monopoly". In 1907 educator Marietta Johnson founded the School for Organic Education in Fairhope. The school was praised in John Dewey's influential 1915 book Schools of Tomorrow. Dewey and Johnson were founding members of the Progressive Education Association.
The Fairhope Single-Tax Corporation still operates, with 1800 leaseholds covering more than 4000 acres (16 km²) in and around the current city of Fairhope. Despite the ideals of the corporation, the process of land speculation has propelled the transformation of Fairhope from utopian experiment to artist's and intellectual's colony, to boutique resort and affluent suburb of Mobile. In fact, some local residents refer to Fairhope as "Carmel-by-the-Bay" alluding to Carmel-by-the-Sea on the Monterey Peninsula in California. For over 50 years, fishermen and residents of Fairhope have experienced the "jubilee" phenomenon. During a jubilee along the shores of Mobile Bay, some aquatic animals, including blue crabs, flounder, stingrays, and eels, come to the shallow water, such as around Fairhope, Alabama. At those times, it is possible to catch the fish, crabs, and other sealife near the water's edge. In April 2006, the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERRS) in Fairhope, Alabama, celebrated its 20th anniversary: the Weeks Bay nature reserve is known for the many pitcher plants along the elevated walkways through the swamp forest. Past administrations of Fairhope, Alabama has earned a nationally-recognized reputation as being a city that has been able to control growth. Mayors and city council members from many cities from across the US have visited Fairhope in an effort to copy the "controlled growth" model that Fairhope pioneered. However, recent years has shown that it is getting increasingly hard to control of sprawling growth. Recent approvals of over-sized subdivisions located on the east and south sides of the city have put excessive loads on roadways, utilities, and other infrastructures that the city was once noted for keeping up to date. Once known for its "Mayberry-style" charm, the city of Fairhope is beginning to feel the effects of poor growth management.</b>
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