Warrenton was founded in 1797 as seat of Warren County (est.

[5] The community was named for American Revolutionary War general Joseph Warren.

[6] On May 2, 1919 a crowd of three hundred white farmers shot to death and burned the corpse of a black farmer, Benny Richards, who was accused of murdering his own ex-wife.

[8] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2), of which, 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2) of it is land and 0.52% is water.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,744 people, 840 households, and 528 families residing in the city.