Fayette County was organized in 1821 after the United States signed a treaty at Indian Springs, Georgia with the Creek people for cession of a large portion of their land.

The county and its seat, Fayetteville, were both named in honor of the French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette, who aided General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War.

Since the late 20th century, Fayette County has been part of the Greater Atlanta Metropolitan Area.

Fayette County was created on May 15, 1821, from territory ceded to the United States by the Creek people, who had historically inhabited the area.

It was named for the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolutionary War.

[3] In the years following World War II, the county developed suburban residential communities, with many workers commuting to Atlanta.

[4] The county population has increased rapidly during the late twentieth century with the growth of Atlanta.

It has also benefited from a reverse migration of African Americans to the South, as new residents are attracted to jobs and opportunities.

In 2002 Charles "Chuck" Floyd was appointed to the position of Chief Magistrate Judge of the county.

[5] The Flint River passes through the county and provided the earliest route for transportation and shipping of commodity crops.

In January 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta remanded the case to the district court for a bench trial by the federal district judge, ruling that Judge Timothy Batten Sr. had made a technical error in granting summary judgment in the case.

The bench trial by Judge Batten would give the county an opportunity to present additional evidence to support its case.

In October 2015 the Fayette Chamber of Commerce and two prominent white leaders urged the county to settle the nearly five-year lawsuit and accept district voting.

[21] Fayette County has five incorporated municipalities within its borders; Fayetteville, Brooks, Woolsey, Tyrone and Peachtree City.

However, with the rapid population growth much of the Atlanta metro has experienced in recent years, the percentage of Republican voters has decreased significantly in each of the past three elections.

In the runoff for the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia, Raphael Warnock narrowly lost the county in his re-election bid by a margin of 491 votes or 1.0 points.

[22][24] In January 2016 after mediation, the school board voted unanimously to settle the lawsuit they had earlier appealed along with the county.