[3] Members of the Multnomah tribe of Chinookan Indians lived in a village on Sauvie Island by the Columbia River (the future site of Fairview) when the Lewis and Clark Expedition visited the area in 1806.

By the 1840s and 1850s, white settlers began hay, grain, and livestock operations in what would become eastern Multnomah County.

As the population grew, it may be assumed that residents began referring to the locale as Fairview because of the pleasing views of the nearby Columbia, the Columbia River Gorge, and Mount Hood, though an alternative testimony explains this name originated from the area's ideal lookout spot for approaching hostile natives.

[6] In the mid-1980s, the city attempted to annex a large section of unincorporated territory in eastern Multnomah County.

[7] A large Fairview employer is Townsend Farms, which operates a berry freezing cannery.

In 2020 the company had approximately 350 employees in the region, with 450 seasonal workers;[8] it was the source of a Hepatitis A outbreak in pomegranate seeds in 2013 that infected 127 people in 8 states.

The product was recalled under its Townsend Farms brand at Costco and private labeled at Harris Teeter, and later linked to Goknur Foodstuffs Import Export Trading in Turkey by the FDA.

[14][15] The company has blueberry orchards in Applegate Valley near Grants Pass and Cornelius, as well as others in Oregon and Washington.

[16] On August 31, 2024, a small plane crashed into power transmission lines and a row of townhouses in Fairview[17] setting the row afire, killing two people aboard the plane and one in a townhouse, and causing temporary power outages across eastern Multnomah County.

The Cessna 421C was on a maintenance test flight from Troutdale Airport, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the crash site.

[19] The area also features the Salish Ponds, two small freshwater lakes popular for fishing and its adjacent hiking trails.