Ben Hill County, Georgia: History and Information

Ben Hill County, Georgia

Ben Hill County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Fitzgerald
Year Organized: 1906
Square Miles: 252

Court House:

402-A East Pine Street
County Courthouse
Fitzgerald, GA 31750

Etymology - Origin of County Name

named for Benjamin Harvey Hill, US Senator from Georgia, a Whig leader, and a staunch opponent of Reconstruction.

Demographics:

History

Ben Hill County was created in 1906, from Irwin and Wilcox counties, and was named for Benjamin Harvey Hill, US Senator from Georgia, a Whig leader, and a staunch opponent of Reconstruction.

The Historic District on South Lee and South Main streets in Fitzgerald is listed on the National Register. The old railroad depot is now home to the Blue/Gray Museum.

The county has only one incorporated city, Fitzgerald, which was founded by former Union soldiers on a 50,000 acre tract owned by the non-profit American Tribune Soldiers Colony Company. The citizens of Fitzgerald, pledging unity with their former enemies, named streets after leaders of both armies. The early concentration of population in the city aided the county's industrial development. The colony also founded the first public school in Georgia to offer free books and tuition.

Points of Interest

Fitzgerald and Ben Hill County maintain nine recreational parks and one river access park at the Ocmulgee River. These facilities offer playgrounds, team sports, natural areas, meeting and concert shelters, and public boat ramps.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Telfair County

Southeast: Coffee County

Southwest: Irwin County

West: Turner County

Northwest: Wilcox County

Cities and Towns:

- Fitzgerald (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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