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Other Information:
The 1812 act creating Emanuel County named five commissioners
with authority to select a county seat and contract to have a
courthouse and jail built (Ga. Laws 1812, p. 82). The law further
provided that until a courthouse was built, Emanuel County courts
and elections were to be held at the house of Stephen Rich. An
act of Dec. 6, 1813 named new commissioners and continued the
provision that Stephen Rich's house serve as temporary courthouse
(Ga. Laws 1813, p. 32). In 1814, the commissioners chose the
site that would become Swainsboro as the county seat and had
a courthouse erected.After this courthouse burned in 1841, the
Emanuel County inferior court purchased land in Swainsboro for
a new courthouse. In an act of Dec. 10, 1841, the legislature
directed that a new courthouse be built on this lot (Ga. Laws
1841, p. 70) -- but for unexplained reasons, the legislature
repealed the law the following year (Ga. Laws 1842, p. 177).
On Feb. 18, 1854, the legislature authorized Emanuel County to
levy a special tax to build a new courthouse.In a string of bad
luck, the new courthouse burned in 1855 and was replaced by another
courthouse, which burned in 1857. Emanuel County's fourth courthouse
burned in 1919 and was replaced by a three-story brick structure
(see
photo). Characteristically, this courthouse burned in 1938
and was replaced with a two-story marble courthouse in 1940 (see
profile). This new structure turned out to be the first courthouse
in Emanuel County history not to burn. It served until the late
1990s, when county offices moved out to vacant office space in
buildings around the courthouse square. The deteriorated courthouse
(see
photos) was closed and finally torn down in 2000, leaving
only the sheriff's office on the vacant courthouse square (see
photo). In 2002, the old courthouse square was excavated
for construction of a new city park (see
photo).
Emanuel County's next courthouse (see
photo) was originally built as a U.S. post office in 1936.
Later, it became a U.S. courthouse and served this function until
a new U.S. courthouse was built. In the late 1990s, Emanuel County
purchased the building and made it home of the Emanuel County
superior court--making it the county's sixth courthouse. In 2000,
the county purchased land adjacent to the old U.S. courthouse
and began construction of a new county courthouse that would
incorporate the old U.S. courthouse. Construction of the new
courthouse was completed in 2002.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Emanuel County was created from Bulloch and Montgomery counties
on Dec. 10, 1812 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws
1812, p. 82). Subsequently, portions of Emanuel County were used
to create the following counties: Johnson (1858), Jenkins and
Toombs (1905), Candler (1914), and Treutlen (1918).
Georgia's 39th county was named for former Georgia governor
David
Emanuel (1744-1810).
Click here
for more historical information on Emanuel County.
County Seat:
The 1812 act creating Emanuel County named Edward Lane, Francis
Pugh, Needham Cox, Eli Whitdon, and Uriah Anderson as commissioners
to select a county seat, which the law directed "be as near
the centre of said county as convenience will admit" (Ga.
Laws 1812, p. 82).A year later, Emanuel County did not have a
county seat, so on Nov. 18, 1814, the legislature added Jesse
Mezzle and Archibald Culberth as commissioners and directed that
the county seat be within one mile of the place identified by
Jesse Mezzle as the center of the county. When the expanded commission
was unable to select a site for the county seat, the legislature
on Dec. 6, 1813 named Joshua Wood, Travis Thigpen, Jesse Price,
John Wolf, and Gideon Hose as new commissioners and directed
them to purchase 50-100 acres "which shall be as near the
centre of said county as practicable" (Ga. Laws 1813, p.
32). If the commissioners could not agree on a site, the justices
of the county's inferior court were directed to appoint a fit
and proper person to determine the center of Emanuel County.At
some point in 1814, the commissioners selected the site that
would later become Swainsboro as the location of the county seat.
In an act of Dec. 6, 1822, the legislature confirmed the commissioners'
choice for Emanuel County's seat of government and directed that
the site be named "Swainsborough" (Ga. Laws 1822, p.
126). Soon shortened to "Swainsboro," the town's name honored
Col. Stephen Swain, Emanuel County's first state senator. Swain
represented Montgomery County in the Georgia House of Representatives
(1809-1810) and the Georgia Senate (1812), where he introduced
the bill to create Emanuel County. Swain subsequently represented
Emanuel County in the Georgia Senate for consecutive terms from
1813 to 1831 and 1833-1836. On Feb. 18, 1854, the legislature
changed the name of Swainsboro to Paris (apparently after the
French capital), confirmed Paris as county seat, and incorporated
it as a town (Ga. Laws 1853-54, p. 269). Apparently, the new
name did not catch on, for on Dec. 22, 1857, the legislature
reincorporated the town as Swainsboro (Ga. Laws 1857, p. 192).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 690.4 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 7th out of 159
Population:
Emanuel County
City of Swainsboro
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