> Menhirs and dolmens testify of the presence of the man on Fougères during the prehistory and the antiquity.
> In 11th century rises a first feudal clod. Destroyed by king of England in 1166, the fortification will be reconstructed at once stone.
> The medieval city develops herself at feet of the castle on the river banks of Nançon. The first activities appear: cloth merchants, dry cleaners, tanners. The first parish Saint-Sulpice is then built.
> The city becomes then a crossroads between Maine, Anjou and Normandy. A market of cattle develops: Aumaillerie, which will become one of the biggest cattle markets of Europe.
> The extension of the population is going to incite the inhabitants of Fougères to occupy the plateau dominating the valley. Storekeepers and craftsmen gather together into the main street called New Village. A second parish is set up: Saint Léonard.

> Independents militarily, The fougerais build a city hall and a court to acquire the political and judicial power. This autonomy will be translated by the erection of the Belfry in 1397.
> The end of the Breton independence in 1532 offers a period convenient to the development of the city. Suburbs develop; numerous convents are built as Récollets or The Urbanistes.
> The city knows terrible fires in 1710. Buildings will be reconstructed into granite.
> The Industrial revolution around the shoe industry gives birth to the parish of Bonabry as well as to the new district which allows to make factories live, warehouses, buildings for the workers and the mansions for the employers.

> At the end of the 19th century, a high-performance machine allowing a faster production is imported by the United States. Chaussonniers are directed to a new production: the leather shoe. The arrival of the railroad in 1863 and the setting-up of 60 factories of shoes will make the population pass from 11000 to 25000 inhabitants.
> The theater is built in 1879.
> The crystal glass-making of Fougères was built in 1921 and stopped its activity in 2005. It was the last glass factory in Brittany.

Jean-Ambroise Baston de La Riboisière is born on August 18th, 1759 in Fougères. He was a classmate of Bonaparte at the school of artillery of Fère, general and baron of Empire, general inspector of the artillery, and played a decisive role with his artillery in Austerlitz, Lena, Wagram, Eylau, Danzig, Smolensk and in Moscow, where one of his sons was killed. Died a bit further to Königsberg, in Prussia, the General was interred to the  Invalides. But his heart rests in the Castle of Monthorin to Louvigné du Désert. The statue of the General found in 1999 the square which it had left in 1942.

François René de Chateaubriand often comes to Fougères, to Saint Germain in Coglès and to Mézières-sur-Couesnon where live three of his sisters. We can discover their mansions at random streets of Fougères. In 1791, Chateaubriand meets the marquess of the Rouërie.

Balzac arrives in Fougères in September, 1828. He remains until October at Gilbert de Pommereul, the son of a friend of his father. He visits the castle, the churches Saint Léonard and Saint Sulpice. He likes walking on "the Place in Trees ". He goes to Marigny to Saint Germain in Coglès. During his stay, he amasses the materials which will allow him to write "The last Chouan or Brittany in 1800". Published in 1829, this novel more known under the title " The Chouans ", will be the first one of the Human Comedy.

Accompanied with his mistress Juliette Drouet, Victor Hugo discovers Fougères, in June, 1836, during his excursion in Brittany. Of his excursions, the writer returns several drawings: the castle of Fougères seen by the Place in Trees, the Door Notre-Dame, the Tourgue (a gargoyle of the church Saint Léonard). He draws his inspiration of his novel " ninety-three " from the town. One of the characters of the novel carries Juliette's born name: Gauvain.

Juliette Gauvain was born in Fougères in April, 1806. His father was a Chouan. Very early orphan, Juliette was in Paris in a religious boarding school. She becomes a comedienne. She takes then the name of her uncle Drouet who raised her. In 1831, while she interprets the role of princess Négroni in "Lucrèce Borgia", she meets Victor Hugo. She will be her mistress, her muse and her inspirer. In 1852, she accompanies her in him exile in Guernsey. She will write him thousands of letters.

Writer, born in Fougères in 1890. Son of shoemaker, employee of factory in spite of him, he works only and obtains his high school diploma. In 1911, he is received to Normale sup'. Hurt during the First War, he becomes teacher then writer. During the occupation, he participates actively in the intellectual Resistance. At the Liberation, he is a director of the Youth movements and Popular Culture. In 1962, he is elected to the Académie française. He will be a chief editor of the Magazine Europe then of the journal du vendredi, commentator to the Figaro, then to the World. In " The Newspaper of a 40-year-old Man " and in "Change the Life", Jean Guéhenno evokes his youth in Fougères and in his native country.

Georges Franju was born in 1912 in Fougères, that he leaves for Paris. Fascinated by the cinema, he turns to the creation of posters then meets Henri Langlois with whom he founds the film library. From 1958 he realizes several movies among which " The Head against walls ", "Thérèse Desqueyroux", " eyes without face " and "Judex". He dies in 1987.