On June 17 of 1891, the last stone was placed in the building of the Fairbanks Museum of Natural History in St. Johnsbury. Franklin Fairbanks, son of Fairbanks Scales founder Erastus Fairbanks, built the museum as a gift to the people of St. Johnsbury. The museum displayed the natural history collections owned by Fairbanks. A planetarium was added to the museum in 1961.

According to Wikipedia, Erastus Fairbanks settled in St. Johnsbury in 1824 and formed a partnership, E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., with his brother Thaddeus for the manufacture of scales, stoves and plows. Thaddeus Fairbanks later invented the first platform scale, which made it possible to calculate the weight of farm products and other goods shipped by wagon and railroad car; the device proved so successful that the renamed Fairbanks Scales company became the largest employer in the state.

The Fairbanks family was involved in numerous charitable and civic endeavors throughout St. Johnsbury and the surrounding towns, including the 1842 founding of St. Johnsbury Academy.

Fairbanks was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1836 to 1840. He was a Whig Presidential Elector for Vermont in 1844 and 1848. He was President of the Passumpsic Railroad, which completed a line from White River Junction to St. Johnsbury in 1850. 

Fairbanks was elected the 21st Governor of Vermont in 1852 and served until 1853. During this term, a law was passed forbidding the sale or traffic of intoxicating beverages. The law was not repealed until 1902.

Fairbanks was one of the founders of the Republican Party, and a delegate from Vermont to the first Republican National Convention in 1856. He was 26th Governor of Vermont from 1860 to 1861. During his second term he rendered valuable aid in the equipment and dispatch of troops in the early days of the American Civil War.

Sourced from Vermont History Explorer and Wikipedia.