Fayette County was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1824 from the neighboring counties of Shelby and Hardeman. The same year, Somerville was selected as its county seat. The county is named was named after Marquis de Lafayette who was a French aristocrat and officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. With the county having a total area of 706 square miles, it also has a population count of 40,507 residents calling the county home.
Fayette County was formed in 1780 when the Virginia General Assembly partitioned off into Kentucky County which then abolished and was separated into three different counties: Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln. Together, these counties and those setting off from them later in that decade separated from Virginia in 1792 to become the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Lexington did not become the county seat for Fayette County until 1974. Sitting at 286 square miles, Fayette County is home to the 62nd largest city in the U.S. and 323,152 residents.
