Erastus Fairbanks (October 28, 1792 – November 20, 1864) was an American manufacturer, a Whig politician, a founder of the Republican Party, and the 21st and 26th governor of Vermont.

[2] 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.

Though he would ultimately withdraw from the venture due to disputes about labor and planning with the Boston Associates, Fairbanks and his company would be the first to fund the Hadley Falls Dam project in 1846.

The project, conceived by one of his salesmen and personal associates, George C. Ewing, ultimately created Holyoke, Massachusetts.

During his second term he rendered valuable aid in the equipment and dispatch of troops in the early days of the American Civil War.