The community was named after the Fenwick family, who were early settlers on the left bank of the Mississippi River in the Spanish Illinois Country.

The colonial history of eastern Perry County begins in the late 1700s with the migration of American Catholics into the Spanish territory of Upper Louisiana.

The head of one of the families, Joseph Fenwick, received an invitation in 1797 from district commandant Luzières to bring himself and his son, a doctor, as well as other American Catholics to settle Spanish territory.

On April 18, 1797, Joseph Fenwick arrived with 25 or more Catholic families from the White Sulphur area of Kentucky, along with seventy slaves.

[3] After 1803, Joseph Fenwick left New Bourbon village, possibly over issues of land-ownership or to relocate himself beyond easy reach of the colonial officials.