Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1880.
Fayette dates its founding to 1861 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fayette’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1970, then more than doubled.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fayette’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fayette.
Founded in 1861, Fayette was originally called "Warm Creek". A post office called Fayette was in operation between 1864 and 1966. The present name is after Fayette, New York, the town where the LDS Church was founded.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fayette. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fayette.
Nobody well known was born in Fayette itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Fayette had its own post office from 1864 to 1966.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1861, according to Wikidata. Fayette’s post office opened in 1864, and the census of 1880 counted 278 people here.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2010