Evans County Courthouse

Photo: Keith Hair

Note: This is NOT the official web site of Evans 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 Evans County, linked below:

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

Location: Claxton

Date Built: 1923

Architectural Style: Neoclassical Revival

Designer: J.J. Baldwin

Other Information: Interior extensively remodeled 1979-80.

County Courthouse Historical Marker: Click here

County History: On Aug. 11, 1914, the General Assembly proposed a constitutional amendment to create Evans County from Bulloch and Tattnall counties (Ga. Laws 1914, p. 33). In that year's general election, Georgia voters ratified the proposed amendment on Nov. 3, 1914, which marks the official date of Evans County's creation (although a state historical marker on the courthouse grounds incorrectly cites the county's creation as the day the legislative act proposing the constitutional amendment was approved).

According to the 1914 constitutional amendment, Candler County was created from portions of Bulloch and Tattnall counties (see map) with the following boundaries:

Commencing at a point known as Johnson's Old Ferry on the Canoochee River and running thence in a southwesterly direction along the boundary line between Liberty and Tattnall Counties to a point known as the Ford on Canoochee Creek; thence in a westerly direction, a straight line to Jennie; thence a westerly direction a straight line to Roger's Crossing, at the intersection of the Bellville and Reidsville Roads; thence in a northerly direction in a straight line to a point on the Seaboard Air Line Railway, half way between the towns of Bellville and Manassas, thence northerly in the same direction in a straight line until it intersects the line of the proposed county of Candler, thence along said line to the Canoochee River, thence in a southerly direction down the Canoochee River to Kennedy's Bridge, thence in an easterly direction along the public road leading from Kennedy's Bridge to Ada Belle on the Register and Glennville Railroad; thence in an easterly direction along the old Dublin Road, to the right-of-way of the old Dublin Railroad bed; thence in a southeasterly direction down said right-of-way to Scott's Creek, thence in the same direction down Scott's Creek to its mouth in Lott's Creek, thence in a southerly direction down Lott's Creek to its mouth into Canoochee River; and from thence down Canoochee River in a southeasterly direction to the starting point at Johnson's Ferry.

Why was Evans County created by constitutional amendment instead of an act of the General Assembly? In 1904, Georgia voters had approved a constitutional amendment limiting the number of counties in the state to 145. The next year, the General Assembly created eight new counties, bringing the total number to 145 -- the constitutional limit. Nevertheless, there was continuing pressure to create more counties. Beginning in 1906, lawmakers got around the 145-county limitation by creating new counties through constitutional amendments that were not subject to the limitation. By 1924, Georgia had 161 counties -- 16 of which had been created by constitutional amendment. On Jan. 1, 1932, Milton and Campbell counties merged with Fulton, leaving 159 counties. In 1945, Georgia voters ratified a new constitution -- one which provided an absolute limit of 159 counties, with an additional provision (see text) that no new country could be created except through consolidation of existing counties.

Georgia's 150th county was named for former Confederate general Clement A. Evans (1833-1911), who had died three years earlier.

County Seat: The proposed constitutional amendment creating Evans County named Claxton as the county seat. Claxton began around 1890 as a train stop in eastern Tattnall County on the newly constructed railroad connecting Alabama with Savannah. According to Kenneth Krawkow, the community that grew up around the train station was named Henricks, after the name of one of the first residents. However, because there was another Georgia post office by that name, local residents chose to rename their community after Kate Claxton, who was a popular actress of the time. The legislature incorporated Claxton on July 28, 1911.

Maps

• Historical Maps of Evans County
• Georgia DOT Map of Evans County, pdf (454 K)

Size of County (Total Area): 186.9 square miles

County Rank in Total Area: 145th out of 159

Population:

Evans County

• 10,495 (2000)
• Evans County Historical Population Profile

City of Claxton

• 2,276 (2000)

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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