Historic Fairfax County Courthouse

The Historic Fairfax County Courthouse is one of the oldest buildings in Fairfax, Virginia. It was constructed in 1799 to serve as the seat of government in Fairfax County. During the American Civil War, the first Confederate officer casualty of the war took place on the courthouse grounds, and the building was occupied by both sides in the conflict. Today, the original courthouse building is part of the larger courthouse site that serves the local government of Fairfax County.The Early Days of Fairfax CountyWhen Virginia's county court system was established in 1619, important issues handled by it included determining local tax rates, licensing mills and inns, providing for road construction and repair, and generally administering local government. Fairfax County built its first courthouse in 1742 at a site called "Spring Field", which is near present-day Tysons Corner. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the city of Alexandria, Virginia, had established itself as one of the major ports of the region for coastal and oceangoing ships, and in the year 1752, the courthouse for the Fairfax County court system moved there. In November 1789, realizing the County of Fairfax was in need of a new courthouse building, a legislative petition was arranged in Alexandria. The petition requested the courthouse be placed in the center of Fairfax County, a more convenient location for citizens of the area, in order to promote trade and commerce. Shortly after, the court ordered that the sheriff collect thirty-five cents for each taxable person in Fairfax County to pay for the construction of the new courthouse.