A post office called Lyerly has been in operation since 1889,[4] when a small town began to develop around a depot constructed by the Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad.

The post office was moved from the nearby town of Melville, which had gone bankrupt that same year.

[5] The new town, which incorporated in 1891, may have been named for Charles A. Lyerly, a banker from Tennessee who had made several real estate investments in the area.

Georgia State Route 114 connects Lyerly with Summerville, the county seat, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the northeast, and the Alabama state line (near Gaylesville) 6 miles (9.7 km) to the southwest.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.73 square miles (1.9 km2), all of it land.