Joseph Taylor first settled in the area that is now Farr West in 1858. He was the first of a group of Mormon pioneers in the area that was part of the Harrisville Stake until 1890 when the LDS Church broke off the western part of the Harrisville district and created Farr West (named for Lorin Farr, former president of the Weber LDS Stake and for Chauncey West, presiding LDS Bishop of Weber County at the time).

Farr West was primarily an agricultural district for many years and while many small businesses set up shop in the community over the years, hardly any of them survived more than a few years. The residents' desire to keep tight controls on growth led to the formation of a town planning council in 1962, then they elected a town planning committee in 1972. The city began formal operation as the City of Farr West on January 1, 1981. As a town, the folks still exhibit an extreme desire to control all forms of growth within the municipal limits. Despite their controls, the town population has almost quadrupled since 1980.