In 1861 Joseph Bartholomew, James Mellor, and others settled here and diverted the warm creek for irrigation. A branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in 1862 with Branch Young as president. The settlement's name was changed from Warm Creek to Fayette, honoring the town in New York where the Church was first organized. In 1863 John E. Metcalf built the first grist mill on the stream flowing from the warm spring one mile east, and he fashioned and used these millstones. Fayette Ward was organized on July 4, 1877.