Fairfield

Formed May 10, 1666 (1^st county)

Fairfield County (959,768), Bridgeport (148,644)

The 1973 Modern style courthouse is built of concrete and glass.  It is located on Main Street between Fairfield and Cannon streets.  Interstate Highway 95 passes five blocks south of the facility.  Bridgeport was also the home of the 1855 and 1888 courthouses.  Lyons, Mather, & Lechner are the current courthouse architects.  There is also a Superior Courthouse in Bridgeport and Danbury, Norwalk, and Stamford have auxiliary courthouses.  Fairfield was the original county seat until 1853 and a courthouse built in 1794.  The county was formed on May 10, 1666 as an original county.  It is the 1^st county.  The county was named for the city which is named for the city in England.  Bridgeport is named for the first draw bridge over the river.  Fairfield County was the birthplace of 8 Connecticut Governors, Gideon Tomlinson, Isaac Toucey, William T. Minor, Phineas C. Lounsbury, Luzon B. Morris, Robert A. Hurley, James C. Shannon, and Daniel P. Malloy. 

Fairfield County doesn’t have a unified government as each township governs.  Six Superior District Court Judges serve Danbury District, Eleven Superior District Court Judges serve Fairfield District, Twelve Superior District Court serve Stamford/Norwalk District, and Thirteen Probate Judges serve Fairfield County.  The county is situated in southwest Connecticut on the Long Island Sound and on the border with New York.  The center of the county is 17.7 miles Northwest of Bridgeport nearer Redding.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Litchfield and New Haven counties and New York. 

The area of the county is 626 square miles.  It is 4 out of 8 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 8 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1533.2 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 8 in the state.  Fairfield County has 52.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 84 crosses the northern part of the county east to west from New Haven County to New York.  Interstate Highway 95 crosses the southern part of the county east to west, New Haven County to New York.  United States Highway 1 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from New Haven County to New York.  United States Highway 6 parallels Interstate Highway 84 from New Haven County to New York.  United States Highway 7 comes in from the north Litchfield County and terminates at Interstate Highway 95.  United States Highway 202 is joined with United States Highway 7 in from Litchfield County and then joins United States Highway 6 to exit into New York.  The county is shaped like a pick ax pointing northwest.  Bridgeport is located in the southeast quarter of the county.  Bridgeport is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 15.5% of the county population.  The county is in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area.