The city of Fairfax in Virginia, shares its name with the county within which it is situated, although the city holds the status of an independent city. Although, the city of Fairfax has a completely separate system of administration from that of the county within which it is situated, nonetheless the city is still the county seat of Fairfax. The city of Fairfax is situated within the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Civilization had settled in the city region of Fairfax as late as the 1700’s when farmers found the Tidewater region extremely suited to agriculture. In 1805 the region around Fairfax acquired the designation of the Town of Providence but was formally named the Town of Fairfax in 1874. However, the city of Fairfax gained complete independence from its mother county only in the year of 1961, when the Fairfax city became independent.
According to the census of the year 2000, the Fairfax city has a total area of 16.3 square kilometers while its population was recorded at 21,498. Although Fairfax city is politically independent of Fairfax county, yet all the public schools within the city are administered by the Fairfax County Public schools System. On the outskirts of the city of Fairfax lies the largest university of US, the George Mason University. The city of Fairfax has always remained an active center for commerce and industry and its proximity to the nation’s capital has transformed it into a rapidly developing urban area. Although, the Fairfax museum is the most appealing tourist site, there are other renovated historical heritage buildings within the city, which are worth seeing.