[9] Fayette City was originally known as Freeport, founded in the 1794 by Colonel Edward Cook.

[12] On April 11, 1854 the town's name was changed to Fayette City, in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette.

[10] In 1895 the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroad completed an extension to Fayette City.

[10] In 2012, the mayor Herbert Vargo Jr. pled guilty to running a numbers scheme and was sentenced to a year of probation.

[10] The town received many European immigrants who came to work in local coal mines.

[3][19][20] All of the men killed in the Naomi disaster were immigrants from eastern Europe.

[23] It sits on the east bank of the Monongahela River, which forms the border with Washington County.

[7] Fayette City's low elevation and location along the Monongahela River make it susceptible to flooding after heavy rains.

30.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.