Most of Fayette was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listings are the Hughes-Clark House and the Truly House. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1850.
Founding year: the first Fayette post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fayette’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fayette is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fayette’s overall grade.
Mississippi towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Mississippi town has 71.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fayette’s 11.8 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share (±2.0 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Fayette’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1879, the Jesse James gang, based in Missouri, raided southwest Mississippi, robbing a store each in Washington and Fayette. The outlaws absconded with $2,000 cash in the second robbery and took shelter in abandoned cabins on the Kemp Plantation south of St. Joseph, Louisiana. A posse attacked and killed two of the outlaws but failed to capture the entire gang. Jesse James and most of his gang succeeded in returning to Missouri. He was killed three years later in 1882 at his home in St. Joseph, Missouri.
In 1890, the white Democrat-controlled Mississippi legislature passed a new constitution, which effectively disenfranchised most black people in the state, crippling their integration into society and the Republican Party of the time.
Passages that mention Fayette, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Telegraph-herald's abridged history of the state of Iowa and directory of Fayette County, including the city of Oelwein, with a complete classified business directory1906 · page 145Read the page →
Read the text
Fayette County Mutual Ins. Co., of Fayette Co., John Jamison. FIDELITY INS. CO. OF DES MOINES L. T. Graves, Fayette, Iowa.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fayette. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1962Fayette sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fayette.
Every building
Fayette, building by building, 1904–1908
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Fayette’s history
What year was Fayette founded?
The Fayette post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fayette rank for history?
Fayette is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Fayette?
Two places: the Hughes-Clark House (listed 1987) and the Truly House (2021).
How old are the homes in Fayette?
0.0% of Fayette’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.0 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1982.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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