LaFayette was incorporated as county seat of Walker County on September 30, 1885. The city was named in honor of the French nobleman, the marquis Marie Joseph Yves Gilbert Du Motier LaFayette, who assisted America during the American Revolution.

The courthouse in Walker County was constructed between 1917 and 1918 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The first courthouse in Walker County was a “double-log house” at Crawfish Springs (now Chickamauga) that had been used by the Cherokees as a council house.