Situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, it was one of the county's sixteen original townships, and was founded in 1797.

[4] It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area.

It reportedly took its name from the utterance that year of a businessman, Colonel Thomas Forster, who said of his land purchase at the mouth of Walnut Creek: "This is the fairest view I have seen yet.

The township includes the communities of Fairview and Avonia.

[4] As of the census[10] of 2010 there were 10,102 people, 4,018 households, and 2,831 families residing in the township.

There were 3,711 housing units at an average density of 127.3 per square mile (49.2/km2).