- In November 2007, former Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame pitcher and radio announcer Joe Nuxhall died at 79. He was battling this third bout of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, pneumonia, blood clots and a failing heart when he died at Mercy Hospital Fairfield.
- The Fairfield High School drama department was chosen in 2008 as a pilot school to perform Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Phantom of the Opera." More than 6,000 tickets were sold for the April production at Fairfield High School. R&H Theatricals, a division of The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, selected Fairfield High School in June 2007 as one of six high schools to stage the famous musical. Students performed from the same script and score enacted on Broadway, in London's West End and on the American national tour, according to theater officials.
- Bridgewater Falls opened with Target in October 2004. Bridgewater Falls owner Premier Properties defaulted on its loan, and Wachovia Bank foreclosed upon it in 2008. The bank purchased the growing outdoor mall - which at one point was valued at $100 million, but a recent appraisal set its worth at $50 million - at a Butler County Sheriff's auction in March for $33 million. Blue Ash-based Phillips Edison purchased the mall in October for $43 million.
- Mercy Hospital Fairfield announced in 2002 a $54.6 million expansion plan that would double the size of the Mack Road campus. Mercy opened its expansion in 2005. Wood paneling, marble countertops, a leaf design motif and earth tones were all apart of the "healing" décor. Kate Jackson, an American Heart Association spokeswoman best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan, the "smart angel,' in the 1970s TV series "Charlie's Angels,' was the featured speaker during a weekend of activities celebrating the grand opening.
- Authorities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Butler County Sheriff's Office and other state, federal and local agencies arrested 161 of 180 workers suspected of being illegal immigrants at the Koch Foods chicken processing plant after a two-year investigation. Prior to the raid, the Fairfield plant employed more than 500. Business briefcase
- In 2004, Princeton Road was widened on the east side of Bypass Ohio 4 to accommodate Bridgewater Falls. Then in 2008, the west side of Princeton Road was widened. The project was completed in 2009. The widening, which was paid for through the two JEDDs with Hamilton, was to help move traffic through the township's downtown business district.
- In 2005 and 2006, H.H. Gregg, Office Depot and Kohl's broke ground next to Walmart and across the street from Home Depot on Princeton Road west of the bypass. Several other smaller shopping destinations opened in that area throughout the decade.
- Cincinnati Mall - formerly Forest Fair and Cincinnati Mills - was sold three times within six years. Purchased in 2002 for $69.4 million by the Mills Corp., Forest Fair Mall began a $70 million renovation in 2003. The newly remodeled mall opened in 2004 as Cincinnati Mills Mall. However, a couple years later the Simon Property Group purchased it. It then resold the mall for an undisclosed amount in December 2008 to North Star Realty. The new owner dropped "Mills' from the mall's name.
- In March 2007, Fairfield-based Cincinnati Financial Corp. was the largest private employer in Butler County, employing more than 2,900 employees. Its employee growth has remained flat, and AK Steel has reclaimed the county's top spot. As of July 2009, AK Steel had 3,100 employees in the county.
Crime over the years
- Mike Snyder was sworn in as the First Ward councilman in 2000, filling the seat vacated by Jon Saylor. Saylor resigned after he pled guilty to 58 felony counts of voter fraud and was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $22,500.
- Sophal Prom was charged with aggravated murder in the shooting death of Darlene Adams at Prestige Display and Packaging Inc. in September 2001.
- Then 20-year-old Edward "Teddy' Shuman was charged in killing fellow Fairfield Center resident Joseph David Beaudoin, 50, on Feb. 21, 2006. Both developmentally disabled residents were roommates, and Shuman was accused of strangling Beaudoin with a belt. Shuman is now a resident at a state-run facility.
- Mary Lawson, arrested in May 2006, was sentenced to one year in prison for embezzling $334,000 from the city of Fairfield between 2002 and 2005. She also was required to pay restitution to the city.
To those we said goodbye
The community lost a number of people who shaped the face of the community in the years past. Those who have died in the past 10 years include:
- Former Fairfield Twp. Fire Chief Hans Kuehlthau, 64, died in April 2004 while dining with friends at Symmes Tavern on the Green.
- In August 2004, former Fairfield Mayor and co-founder of the Fairfield Footlighters Sterling Uhler died at 73. He had a nine-month battle with an inoperable brain tumor.
- In May 2006, former Fairfield City Schools Superintendent Robert Cropenbaker, who led the district from 1955-76, died at the VITAS Hospice at Fort Hamilton Hospital. He was 92. Cropenbaker saw the district's enrollment more than triple from 2,316 students in 1955 to 7,365 in 1976.
- Fairfield Twp. Assistant Fire Chief Paul McKendry, 51, died in February 2009 at Mercy Hospital Fairfield, just days after being admitted. Later in the year, a memorial scholarship was established in his honor. Fairfield Twp. firefighter Robbie Potter was its first recipient.
In addition to losing community leaders, three military heroes died within 90 days of one another while serving overseas in 2005.
- Marine Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski died in May. The 2003 Fairfield graduate was killed when an explosion occurred during heavy combat in the Al Anbar province in Iraq.
- Army PFC Timothy Hines died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., in July, nearly a month after being wounded. He sustained fatal injuries while in a convoy by a roadside bomb along an Iraqi highway.
- Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Cifuentes died in August 2005. He was one of 14 Marines killed when their armored vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in western Iraq.
Emergency services
- Fairfield Twp. opened a new police station in 2002.
- The city of Fairfield Fire Department elected to not renew its contract with Independent Specialized Paramedic Inc. in 2006 and hired six new full-time firefighter/paramedics. The moved saved about $1.4 million.
- In 2006, the Fairfield Twp. Fire Department went from a volunteer to paid force.
Community happenings
- On Father's Day 2003, several homes along Banker and Crystal were significantly flooded. Fairfield received a FEMA grant to purchase 23 homes considered at high-risk for future flooding. The city received a more than $2.57 million grant to purchase the homes, by which 21 of the 23 were purchased.
- In May 2005, Fairfield kicked off the city's 50th anniversary celebration when the Community Arts Center opened at Village Green.
- The November 2005 general election had one of the closest races for mayor - Howard Dirksen was one vote ahead of Ron D'Epifanio, who won by five votes after a mandatory recount. In the 2009 rematch, D'Epifanio was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote, winning 36 of the city's 38 precincts.
Community improvements
- The Symmes Road extension is kicked off in 2001. Later on in the year, the extension opened, linking Fairfield to Interstate 75.
- The grand opening of the Fairfield Lane Public Library at Village Green took place in 2001. The 25,000-square-foot building cost $5 million.
- In 2002, the city purchased the balance of the 4.8 acres needed in the Village Green area that now houses the Community Arts Center. Work on the CAC started in 2003, and the grand opening of the final construction piece of Village Green opened in May 2005.
- There was a massive transformation in 2003 of Muhlhauser Road at the intersection of Mack Road and Ohio 4 to provide relief to motorists.
- Council in 2003 bought the former Kroger property at the southwest corner of Nilles Road and Pleasant Avenue for a new Justice Center, which would house the police department and municipal court. The facility opened in May 2006. Fairfield City Schools
- The Fairfield City School District in 2004 passed an operating levy of 4.9 mills.
- Superintendent Cathy Milligan rejoined Fairfield City Schools after serving one year as its human resources supervisor contracted through the Butler County Educational Service Center. She had held various leadership and administrative positions, including assistant superintendent, until then.
- In 2009, Fairfield's show choir, the Choraliers, came home with a national championship from Branson, Mo.
Other notable events
- The first Red White and Kaboom was organized in 2000 by Lynne Rhul and Fredrick Holzberger.
- Elisha Morgan Mansion in 2003 gained national historic status in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of Interior.
- Hamilton and Fairfield Twp. worked out the second of two Joint Economic Development District agreements in 2001. The first Hamilton JEDD was in the late 1990s.
- Paige Hasslebeck won the first Fairfield Idol contest in 2004.
- Mercy Hospital Fairfield performed its 1,000th open-heart surgery in 2005.
- The smoking ban in Fairfield was enacted in August 2006. The statewide ban was approved by voters in 2006 and went into effect in 2007.
- The Fairfield Community Foundation turned 10 years old in 2009.
- Fairfield and Fairfield Twp. signed a JEDD agreement in early 2009; Fairfield signed a second JEDD agreement with West Chester Twp. in 2009.
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