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Georgia Counties

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Georgia Counties

Georgia is divided into 159 counties. Under the Georgia Constitution, Counties are granted home rule to deal with issues that are local in nature. Four consolidated city-Counties — Athens (Clarke County), Augusta (Richmond County), Columbus (Muscogee County), and Cusseta (Chattahoochee County) — exist.

Georgia has the second-highest number of Counties of any state in the United States, behind Texas (254). A few Georgia Counties have changed names over time. Jasper County was originally known as Randolph County. Later, the current Randolph County came into being. Webster County was once known as Kinchafoonee County, and Bartow County was formerly known as Cass County.

Jefferson County, Georgia

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

County Seat: Louisville
Year Organized: 1796
Square Miles: 528

Court House:

P.O. Box 658
County Courthouse
Louisville, GA 30434-0658

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Thomas Jefferson.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Jefferson County, originally part of Burke and Warren counties, was created in 1796 and named for Thomas Jefferson.

Wadley was originally known as "Shakerag". The name was changed to Wadley in the 1870s in honor of the president of the Central of Georgia Railway. The name change coincided with the designation of Wadley as an official stop on the railroad.

Louisville, the county seat, was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, because of the support given by France to the Colonials in the Revolution. Louisville was Georgia's third state capital, but its first "permanent" one. The Jefferson County Courthouse, built in 1904, stands on the site of Georgia's first permanent capitol, constructed in 1795.

Louisville was the site of the Constitutional Convention of 1798 in which the state's pre-Civil War constitution was adopted. Georgia's Great Seal, which is still in use today, was adopted at the same time.

Points of Interest

The Old Market House, the county's major tourist attraction, dates to the 1790s and served as the commercial center for the region during the time that the state capital was in Louisville.

Notable Citizens

One of Georgia's most infamous characters hailed from Jefferson County. James Gunn (1753-1801), who was a US Senator, used intimidation to support the Yazoo Act (1795) in which Georgia sold 35 million acres to four companies, including his own, for one and a half cents per acre. The act was later deemed fraudulent and burned on the site of the present courthouse in Louisville.

Neighboring Counties:

North: McDuffie County
Northeast: Richmond County
East: Burke County
South: Emanuel County
Southwest: Johnson County; Washington County
Northwest: Glascock County; Warren County

Cities and Towns:

- Avera	city	Incorporated Area
- Bartow	town	Incorporated Area
- Louisville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Stapleton	city	Incorporated Area
- Vidette	city	Incorporated Area
- Wadley	city	Incorporated Area
- Wrens	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Additional County Info http://www.georgiaplanning.com/CountyPortal/countyportal.asp?FIPS=13163

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."