Argo Fay is an unincorporated community in York Township, Carroll County, Illinois, United States. Argo Fay is south-southwest of Mount Carroll.
The original name of the community was the Bailey settlement or Baileyville,Thiem, E. George, ed. Carroll County: A Goodly Heritage, Carroll County Historical Society (1968), p. 127, 417 as many local residents had that surname. Joshua Bailey moved to the area in 1839 and built the first church in 1851.
By the mid-1880s,Terre Haute Directory & Vigo County Gazetteer (1884) (lists Argo as a post office in Carroll County) the community name was changed to Argo, and then to Argo Fay a few years later.Church histories - Carroll County Illinois, Retrieved 7 July 2026 The first name change was necessitated by the coming of a post office. There was already a Baileyville near Freeport, Illinois, and "Argo" was selected as a replacement, named after the ship of that name in Greek mythology.(13 June 1968). A lifelong resident recalls local history, The Lanark Gazette However, when the railroad came through the area, it already had an Argo on its lines, and it named the stop there "Fay", eventually leading to the combined name of Argo Fay, also spelled Argo Fa,(29 October 1953). James Mummert Dies Tuesday At Argo Fa, Lanark Gazette (articles uses Argo Fay and Argo Fa interchangeably) for the community.
At one time, the community had a bank, post office, doctor's office, two grocery stores, blacksmith shop, garage, milk factory, barber shop, and pool hall. A local news story in 1968 reported that the post office and railroad had since departed, as had the milk factory(28 March 1969). Sale Final On Factory At Argo Fay, Freeport Journal-Standard (reporting that 15,000 square foot United Milk Products Co. plant had been vacant since United declared bankruptcy in 1965, and plant was being sold to a rubber company), bank, and other businesses. One grocery store was then remaining.
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