Local History

Crew at one of Fayette furnaces when the town was booming in the 1870's.  Lack of hardwood for fuel for the furnaces forced their closing in 1892 and Fayette became a "ghost town".  Photo courtesy of Fayette State park

The post office at Fayette was established on October 3, 1870, with William Pinchin as postmaster.  During the early years mail was brought from Escanaba over the ice in winter and by boat in summer.  The nearest point at which mail could be taken from the train was Brampton and the trip overland was long and hard.

Named after Fayette Brown, the Jackson Iron Company agent who chose the site, Fayette was once one of the Upper Peninsula's most productive iron-smelting operations. 

Located on the Garden Peninsula at Snail Shell Harbor, named so due to its shape.  

Fayette grew up around two blast furnaces, a large dock and several charcoal kilns after the Civil War. Nearly 500 residents—many immigrating from Canada, the British Isles and northern Europe—lived in and near the town that existed to make pig iron. 

During 24 years of operation, Fayette's blast furnaces produced a total of 229,288 tons of iron, using local hardwood forests for fuel and quarrying limestone from the bluffs to purify the iron ore. When the charcoal iron market began to decline, the Jackson Iron Company closed its Fayette smelting operation in 1891.

A historic site located within the Fayette State Historic Park, which includes a visitor center, exhibits, a 26 station walking tour and a scale model of the original town site.

Information courtesy of Fayette State park.

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