Baker County, Georgia: History and Information

Baker County, Georgia

Baker County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Newton
Year Organized: 1825
Square Miles: 343

Court House:

P.O. Box 607
County Courthouse
Newton, GA 39870-0607

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Georgia's 61st county was named for Colonel John Baker, a Puritan and noted patriot of the Revolutionary War.

Demographics:

History

Georgia's 61st county was named for Colonel John Baker, a Puritan and noted patriot of the Revolutionary War. Baker County was created from Early County in 1825.

The Baker County Courthouse has been damaged by floods three times, once in 1925, once in 1929, and most recently in 1994.

Newton, the county seat, was named for Sergeant John Newton of South Carolina, a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

The last battle of the Creek Indian War of 1836 was fought in Baker County at Chickasawhatchee Swamp near Red Bluff. Indian villages were first recorded in the Baker County area by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto in 1540.

Points of Interest

Primarily an agricultural community, Baker County produces peanuts, cotton, canola, poultry, and beef.

Baker County is home to several plantations, ranging in size from 5,000 to 28,000 acres. The largest is Ichauway Plantation, once owned by Coca-Cola magnate Robert Woodruff. The plantation now houses the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, one of the largest outdoor research centers in the world. Scientists study local vegetation, water systems, and wildlife, including 32 species of endangered plants and animals found on the plantation.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Dougherty County

Southeast: Mitchell County

South: Decatur County

Southwest: Miller County

West: Early County

Northwest: Calhoun County

Cities and Towns:

- Newton (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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