Jefferson County Courthouse

Photo: Keith Hair

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

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

Location: Louisville

Date Built: 1904

Architectural Style: Neoclassical Revival

Designer: W. F. Denney

Other Information: Louisville served as Georgia's third capital city, until the capital moved to Milledgeville in 1806.  [Click here for more information about Louisville's era as state capital and the subsequent history of the old statehouse.] Between 1806 and 1816 several private residences, the Louisville Academy, and an old coffee house served as locales for conducting public business. Eventually the old state capitol building was purchased for use as the county courthouse. A new courthouse was erected on the same sight in 1848, using much of the material from the older building. The current courthouse was built on this same foundation in 1904.

County History: Jefferson County was created from Burke and Warren counties on Feb. 20, 1796 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1796, p. 7). Georgia's 23rd county was named for former U.S. secretary of state and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.

County Seat: The Feb. 20, 1796 act creating Jefferson County designated Louisville as county seat. Louisville, also Georgia's capital at the time, was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France in recognition of French assistance during the American Revolution. Thea legislature incorporated the town in 1818.

Maps

• Historical Maps of Jefferson County
• Georgia DOT Map of Jefferson County, pdf (720K)

Size of County (Total Area): 529.6 square miles

County Rank in Total Area: 22nd out of 159

Population:

Jefferson County

• 17,266 (2000)
• Jefferson County Historical Population Profile

City of Louisville

• 2,712 (2000)

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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