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Other Information:
Dougherty County court was first held in rented rooms until the
first courthouse was completed, by slave labor, in 1856 [see
photo].
This courthouse was replaced in 1904 with a two-store brick building
[see photo
1 and photo
2], which was destroyed by fire in 1966. In 1968, the city
of Albany and Dougherty County built a shared government building
and courthouse. By 1990, city and county governments had outgrown
the courthouse building. In 1993, a new 5-story brick Albany-Doughtery
County Government Center (see photo)
was built across the street to house the non-judicial agencies
of city and county governments. The 1968 building became the
Albany-Dougherty County Judicial Building and continues to serve
as the Dougherty County courthouse.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Dougherty County was created Dec. 15, 1853 by an act of the General
Assembly (Ga. Laws 1853-54, p. 296). Dougherty County was formed
entirely from Baker County, with its original boundaries specified
as:
Beginning at the extreme North East corner of said county,
and thence West on the present county line between the same and
Lee County, until it intersects with the most westerly main run
of the Chickasawhatchie Creek, embracing in said new county,
all of Grinnett's Causeway, and certain Islands known as the
Pine Islands, thence down said westerly run to the point where
it intersects with the land district line, running from East
to West, and dividing the first, second and third districts of
Baker County from the seventh, eighth and ninth districts of
the same, thence East on said district line to the point where
it intersects with the county line between Irwin and Baker Counties,
thence North on said line to the point where it intersects with
said most North Eastern extreme point of said Baker County .
. . .
Additinally, portions of Worth County were transferred to
Dougherty County in 1854 and 1856. Georgia's 103rd county was
named for Athens judge Charles Dougherty, a strong advocate of
states' rights in the 1850s.
County Seat:
The act creating Dougherty County designated Albany as county
seat. Believed to have been named for Albany, N.Y., Albany was
settled in 1837 in what was then Baker County. The General Assembly
incorporated Albany as a town on Dec. 27, 1838 (Ga. Laws 1838,
p. 128).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 334.7 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 87th out of 159
Population:
Dougherty County
City of Albany
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