Lafayette County, Missouri

Lafayette County
Lafayette County
County
	Lafayette County Courthouse in Lexington
	Location within the U.S. state of Missouri
	Missouri's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 39°04′N 93°47′W / 39.06°N 93.78°W
Country	United States
State	Missouri
Founded	November 16, 1820
Named for	Marquis de La Fayette
Seat	Lexington
Largest city	Odessa
Area
• Total	639 sq mi (1,660 km2)
• Land	628 sq mi (1,630 km2)
• Water	11 sq mi (30 km2) 1.6%
Population (2020)
• Total	32,984
• Density	52/sq mi (20/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	5th
Website	www.lafayettecountymo.com

Lafayette County is a county in the western portion of Missouri, part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.^[1] As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,984.^[2] Its county seat is Lexington.^[3] The county was organized November 16, 1820, from Cooper County and originally named Lillard County for James Lillard of Tennessee, who served in the first state constitutional convention and first state legislature.^[4] It was renamed Lafayette County on February 16, 1825, in honor of Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de La Fayette, who was then visiting the United States.^[5]

^ "Population Data and Maps | MARC". Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
^ "Lafayette County, Missouri". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^ "Disappearing Missouri Names". The Kansas City Star. March 19, 1911. p. 15. Retrieved August 15, 2014 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Eaton, David Wolfe (1916). How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named. The State Historical Society of Missouri. pp. 183.