Lamar

Formed February 4, 1867 (66^th county)

Lamar County (13,976), Vernon (1,925)

A red brick courthouse was built in 1910 and remodeled in 1948 to serve the county.  A Judicial Center was added in 1994.  The courthouse is located at 1^st Avenue, Pond Street, Columbus Avenue, and 1^st Street.  Alabama State Highway 17 is Columbus Avenue.  Chamberlain and Company were the courthouse designers in Classical Revival style.  The grounds have veteran memorials.  Lamar County gets its name for Mississippi Senator Lucius Q. C. Lamar.  Vernon’s namesake was settler Edmund Vernon.  Lamar County was organized on February 4, 1867 from Fayette and Marion counties as the 66^th county.  It was originally called Jones County, then Sanford County and finally renamed in 1877 to Lamar County.  Vernon has been the county seat since the county formation.  

Lamar County government consists of a sheriff, revenue commissioner, and coroner (executive).  It has 5 commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Judges serve Lamar, Fayette, and Pickens counties and a District Judge, a Probate Judge, a District Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Lamar County (judicial.)  West Alabama is the home of Lamar County bordering Mississippi on the west.  The center of the county is 2.1 miles Northeast of Vernon.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Marion, Fayette and Pickens counties and Mississippi.  Vernon is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 13.8% of the county population.  

The county has an area of 604.9 square miles.  It ranks 52 out of 67 in size.  It ranks 57 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 22.7 persons per square mile making it 51 out of 67 in the state.  Lamar County has 40.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 278 crosses east to west in the northern part of the county coming from Marion County and exiting into Mississippi.  A tall thin rectangle is the overall county shape.  Vernon is near to the center.