Legend:
Note: A lot of this is educated guesswork, and based on a lot of web searching. If you know of more correct information, please pass it on to me. Thanks!
Fairfax Estates is located in the Town of Amherst, in the State of New York, but is colloquially referred to as being in "Williamsville". It was originally owned by the Holland Land Company, also referred to as "Wilhem Willink et al", which are names you will see on almost all land records for this area. My abstract of title (search), for example, refers back to the original survey performed for the Holland Land Company by Joseph Ellicott, and has this on the first page:
Certificate of Complete Record Search, County of Erie, against all that plot of land situated in the Town of Amherst, County of Erie and State of New York, being part of Lot Number forty-eight (48), Township twelve (12), Range seven (7) of the Holland Land Company's Survey and further distinguished as Subdivision Lot Number two hundred ninety-seven (297), as shown on map entitled "Fairfax Subdivision Part 10", filed in Erie County Clerk's Office under Cover Number 2204.
Click here for a nice writeup about the Holland Land Company.
Fairfax Estates was developed in 1964-65 by Juette Builders Inc,, with many homes constructed by Capozzi Custom Built Homes, Inc. It was named for Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax. He was one of the only British nobles to reside in the American Colonies, building an estate and plantation named "Belvoir". He inherited from his mother, Catherine (Culpeper), 5.3 million acres in the area known as the Northern Neck Proprietary, located between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, which today forms Fairfax County, Virginia. George Washington, as a young man, helped survey the area.
The streets in Fairfax Estates follow three main themes:
This map shows the themes:
Legend:
The south entrance to the development, Belvoir Road, is the name of a Fort in Fairfax County, VA, which was named for Thomas Fairfax' home, Belvoir Plantation. The westernmost road in the development, Culpepper Road, is the maiden name of Thomas Fairfax' mother, Catherine (the actual spelling of the family name is "Culpeper"). A small road off of Culpepper, LeMay Court, was named for General Curtis E. LeMay, commanding general of the US Army Air Corps 3rd Bombardment Division during WWII.
The road between the two mentioned above, Telfair Drive, is apparently named for Edward Telfair, the second governor of Georgia. There was a Fort Telfair in Georgia, mentioned in a few places on this page and named for the governor, so perhaps this road fits into the "military bases" theme, even though it's a north-south street and they usually run east-west. There was also a Haskell-class attack transport ship, the USS Telfair, named for the county in Georgia, in turn named for the governor.
There are three main east-west connecting roads in the development. Hershey Court has two split segments, offset at Belvoir Road. It was named for Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, the director of Selective Service from 1941-1969. Quantico Court was named after the famous Marine Corps base in Virginia. Bragg Court, the northernmost, was named after a Fort in North Carolina, which in turn was named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg. A fourth east-west road, Drummond, connects two streets, and is named for a fort in Michigan, on an island near the Straits of Mackinac.
The four north-south streets on the east side of the development are known as "The Avenues of The Generals", or "The Generals" for short. The north entrance to the development, MacArthur Drive, is named for the great Pacific Theater General in WWII, Douglas MacArthur. Patton Place is named for George S. Patton, the legendary General of the Second Army in WWII, and McNair is named for Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, who was killed in action in Normandy while observing the troops whose training he had directed (he was posthumously awarded a fourth star).
Unfortunately, "The Generals" theme falls apart because the easternmost of the four streets, Presidio Place, is not named after a General, but for the famous Army base in San Francisco.
Similarly, the connecting east-west roads between them are one street short of a theme, as Bragg and Quantico are American military bases, but Hershey is not (see above). If the names "Presidio" and "Hershey" were swapped, the themes would be consistent.
Thanks to the late Mike Townsend, my good friend and neighbor, for inspiring me to work on this page. Thanks also to my colleague, Harvey Axlerod, who found more recent references to Telfair than what I had found earlier.