Although Fairfax has quite an interesting history. It began as a very small community with two names. This was before 1880, and at least six families lived there. Two of the families had the last name of “Sanders” - which was probably the reason for calling the post office by that name and the train stop was called " Campbellton Station." The first postmaster was appointed around 1870, standing prominently along Pickens Avenue, The Port Royal Railroad, an east-west line, began operation through the town in 1873. To consolidate Sanders and Campbellton, proposed names were placed in a hat and a child drew “Fairfax.”

The town received its first charter on December 26, 1893. Fairfax was incorporated in 1896 with W. J. Sanders as mayor. The town was rechartered on May 16, 1898.

Fairfax is in Allendale County; with a population of about (2020 pop. 1,622). Its origins can be traced back to the site of Owen’s Store and Bethlehem Baptist Church, which was located at the crossing of roads running toward Augusta and Orangeburg. The site is beside the Fairfax Cemetery. The cemetery was the site of Bethlehem Baptist Church, which was organized by 1854, relocated in 1914, and renamed First Baptist Church in 1944. A Methodist church was organized in the 1850s and a Lutheran church in 1898. African American congregations organized Nazarene Baptist Church in 1877, Bethel AME about 1878, and St. Phillip Baptist Church in 1891.

S. O’Neal started the Standard Oil Operations in town in 1890 and supplied surrounding towns and communities with oil and kerosene. Bell Telephone Company built lines to Fairfax in 1906. By the mid-1900s several manufacturing and processing plants had been established. In 1940, a Town Hall, which contained the offices of the Mayor, the councilmen, and the town jail, was erected. Fairfax offered motels, filling stations, restaurants, and bus stops for travelers on U.S. Highways 321 and 278. The first African American on the Fairfax Town Council, Quillie Devore, served from 1969 to 1990. An African American woman, Olivia Cohen, served as mayor from 1987 to 1995.

Florida Central Railroad put in a north-south line and, like many small towns near rail lines, businesses boomed. The first brick store was built nearby by F.M. Young; Young ran a telephone company, an electricity generator, and a cotton gin. He also made ice for the community.

His son, F. M. Young, Jr., began wiring homes for Delco generators which spawned an electrical contracting business that in time grew to serve larger operations like businesses and schools. W. J. Young was an esteemed physician whose wife, Virginia Durant Young, was a noted suffragette and author. Virginia operated the local newspaper, the Fairfax Enterprise, in the 1890s. The Youngs left their home and vast collection of books to the Town of Fairfax as a library. Their house, circa 1881, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Virginia Durant Young House. The home is a 1-1/2-story frame, weatherboarded, vernacular Victorian cottage with a gable roof. The Youngs also contributed the seed money for the Allendale County Hospital, stipulating that it must be located in Fairfax.

The Sprint-Fairfax Operation, the first of three high-tech telecommunications facilities, was built in 1986. Today, trains still roll along both the east-west and north-south lines, but the old depot, like many others across South Carolina, serves another purpose. It was used for some time as a senior citizen community center. Merchants still sell hardware, groceries, fuel, and farm supplies in Fairfax. Highway traffic hums through the crossroads, trains rumble down the north-south and east-west tracks, and technicians route signals through telecommunications networks.

The Fairfax Depot rests in its original location and the building is owned by the Town and plans for restoration are being made by the Town of Fairfax Beautification Committee.

Over time, the Town of Fairfax has flourished and floundered but remains a proud community that is home to the Allendale County Hospital and John Edward Harter Nursing Facility as well as several industries including Scotsman Icemakers, and Coosaw Farms.