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Carroll County Courthouse
Carroll County Courthouse
    Photo: Keith Hair
 

Note: This is NOT the official web site of Carroll County or of any county officials; it is an educational web site about the history of the county courthouse and the county itself.  For the address and phone number of the courthouse and county officials, see the NaCO web page for Carroll County, linked below:

Address and Phone Number: See NaCO web page for Carroll County

Location: Carrollton

Date Built: 1928

Architectural Style: Italian Renaissance Revival

Designer: William J.J. Chase

Other Information: The 1826 legislation organizing Carroll County provided that until a county seat was designated and a courthouse built, the house of William O. Wagnon on the McIntosh Reserve would serve as the site for holding elections and conduction sessions of superior and inferior courts. In 1829, Carrollton was designated county seat. It is not clear what served as county seat for the next twenty years, though it probably was a simple log or frame structure. In 1847, the legislature authorized the county to levy a special tax for the purpose of building a new courthouse, which was completed in 1849. In 1856, the legislature authorized Carroll County to levy another special tax to finance a new courthouse. Whether sufficient funds were raised to build a new courthouse before the Civil War is not known. In the 1880s, a new two-story brick courthouse with a prominent clock tower next to the front entrance was constructed. [See photo 1 and photo 2] This courthouse burned in 1927 and was replaced the next year by the current structure.

County Courthouse Historical Marker: Click here

County History: Carroll County was of five counties created by a June 9, 1825 act of the General Assembly. The act did not name the counties but rather designated the boundaries of five numbered sections and provided for the survey of each section into land districts and lots. Naming of the counties did not occur until Gov. Troup signed an act of Dec. 11, 1826. However, if the date of the 1825 act establishing its boundaries is considered the date of Carroll County's creation, it is Georgia's 65th county.

The five counties were created from land ceded by the Treaty of Indian Springs on Feb. 12, 1825 by a group of Creeks led by William McIntosh. McIntosh had signed away all Creek lands in Georgia (except for four reserves) without approval of other Creek factions, an action which led to his assassination. On Jan. 24, 1826, the Creeks signed a new agreement -- the Treaty of Washington -- in which they again ceded the lands in question but declared void the Treaty of Indian Springs. A Supplementary Article, signed on Mar. 31, 1826, corrected some errors in the treaty, resulting in an additional cession of land that only affected what would become Carroll County.

Later, the legislature used portions of Carroll County to create the following counties: Campbell (1828), Heard (1830), Haralson (1856), and Douglas (1870).

Carroll County was named for Charles Carroll of Maryland, who at the time was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence (see statue and biographical profile). Originally, the county was larger than it is today.

Click here for more on the history of Carroll County.

County Seat: Provision for designating a county seat for Carroll County came with an act of Dec. 11, 1826, in which the legislature provided that the county's first election be at the McIntosh Reserve at the home of William O. Wagnon. The legislation further provided that superior and inferior courts would held at the same site until the judges of the inferior court could select a site to serve as county seat. In 1827, the court designated a land lot near Sand Hill that became known as "Carroll County Courthouse" or "Old Carrollton." In 1829, the legislature designated Carrollton as county seat and incorporated the town.

Maps

Size of County (Total Area): 503.9 square miles

County Rank in Total Area: 29th out of 159

Population:

Carroll County

City of Carrollton

  • 19,843 (2000)

 

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