[1] The city hosts the first campus of the Technological University,[2] beside the historically relevant industrial complex Anglo, a World Heritage Site.

One of the biggest pulp mills in the world is situated close to Fray Bentos and the Libertador General San Martín Bridge; it was the center of the largest political dispute between Uruguay and Argentina during the 21st century.

An industrial plant owned by the Societe de Fray Bentos Giebert & Cie., the Liebig Extract of Meat Company (LEMCO), was founded there in 1863.

The surroundings of Fray Bentos were the location of the crash of Austral Flight 2553, in which 74 people were killed (69 passengers and 5 crew) on 10 October 1997.

[5][6] On 5 July 2015, the city's Barrio Anglo, the location of the industrial plant, was declared a World Heritage Site as the "Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape".

Afterwards ten to fifteen Argentines set up a roadblock at the international bridge to put pressure on the Uruguayan government to stop production at the factory, claiming it would gravely pollute the Uruguay River.

When it was shut down, the opportunity was taken to create a museum, with the original machinery, and social and cultural artefacts of the technological revolution in Fray Bentos.