Formation of Fayette County and Its Cities, Boroughs and Townships

"Whereas a great number of the inhabitants of that part of Westmoreland county
circumscribed by the rivers Monongahela and Youghiogheny and Mason and Dixon's
line have by their petition humbly represented to the assembly of this state the
great inconvenience they labor under by reason of their distance from the seat of
jurisdiction in said county:
For remedy whereof:
[Section I.] (Section II P.L.) Be it enacted…..That all and singular the lands lying
within that part of Westmoreland county [description given]…be and hereby are
erected into a county, named and hereafter to be called Fayette county….
p. 199
…That it shall and may be lawful to and for Edward Cook, Robert Adams,
Theophilus Phillips, James Dougherty and Thomas Rodgers … to purchase … a
piece of land situated in Uniontown in trust and for the use of the inhabitants of
the said county and thereon to erect and build a court house and prison sufficient
to accommodate the public service of the said county…"
(V.11 Statutes at Large, p. 196, chap. 1056)

That part of Fayette County above the Youghiogheny River was annexed into
Fayette County on February 17, 1784 (V.11, Statutes at Large, p. 234, chap. 1068).

The County

Fayette County was formed
on September 26, 1783
from Westmoreland County.
It was named in honor of
the Marquis de LaFayette,
the French aristocrat who
became a lifelong friend of
George Washington, served
as a General in the
Revolutionary War and
petitioned the French to
give aid to the American
cause.