PATRON + Fayette County, Alabama Courthouse burned twice – Was the first arson?

Fayette has been a settlement around here for around 200 years.. Folks started calling this a town around 1821.. In 1824 when Fayette County was created, a courthouse and post office were built, signs directing people to the town were labeled “Fayette Courthouse” and that became the unofficial name. In those days the courthouse was located a few miles north of what we now call “Five Points”. The first courthouse there burned in 1854. The second burned in 1866. A third courthouse was built on the same spot. Somewhere along the way the name of the town became Fayetteville.
In 1883, the railroad came to town. Almost to town, anyway a depot across the lowest, flattest area around. The depot was a mile south of the Fayetteville Courthouse. Businesses started moving to the area of the depot for convenience in receiving and sending goods, and cater to travelers coming on the train.(It was called (Depot Town) The people back in Fayetteville called it Frog Level because of the frogs.. Depot Town was located in a low area and tadpoles hatched, the area around the depot would be hopping with time frogs..The name Depot Town stuck so they got its first post office..A short time later however, a new postmaster took over and renamed the post office “Alfreda” after his wife. His tenure was short and he was replaced by a fellow who named the place “ICY”, his nickname for his daughter .All these names came and went in a matter of less than 10 years. Finally a local businessman must have had enough. A petition was made and granted to incorporate the town as “Latona”.. One year later, Judge Holland Bell granted a petition to merge the neighboring towns, Fayetteville and Latona were consolidated into “Fayette” A new courthouse was erected that year, three blocks from the Depot..
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