Formed April 2, 1799 (2nd county)
Jefferson County (7,260), Fayette (1,446)
The Modern red brick and concrete courthouse was built in 1993 on Main Street at Poindexter Avenue. United States Highway 61 is Main Street. Godfrey, Bassett, Kuykendall, and Campbell are the architects. Jefferson County was created on April 2, 1799 as an original county (2nd county) with Fayette as the only county seat. There was a 1902 courthouse earlier. The county is named for United States President Thomas Jefferson. The county seat is named for Revolutionary War hero Marquis de la Fayette. He is also the namesake of Lafayette County.
Jefferson County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, an attorney, a collector, a coroner, an assessor and a clerk (executive). It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.) Two Chancery Court Judges serve Jefferson, Adams, Claiborne, and Wilkinson counties, One District Court Judge serves Jefferson, Claiborne, and Copiah counties and a court clerk serves Jefferson County (judicial.) The county is located in southwest Mississippi on the Mississippi River with Louisiana. Jackson, Mississippi is to the northeast. The county center is 7.9 miles East of Fayette nearer Harriston. The county is surrounded clockwise by Claiborne, Copiah, Lincoln, Franklin, and Adams counties and Louisiana.
The area of the county is 519 square miles. It is 46 out of 82 in the state. It ranks 79 out of 82 in population in the state. It has a density of 14.0 persons per square mile making it 77 out of 82 in the state. Jefferson County has 19.9% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 61 goes north to south in the county from Claiborne County to Adams County. The county looks like a mitten reaching west. Fayette is in the western half of the county. Fayette is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 19.9% of the county population.
Fayette
