Note: This is NOT the official web site of McDuffie 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 McDuffie County, linked below: Mailing Address and Phone Number: See NaCO web page for McDuffie County Location: On U.S. 78 north of downtown Thomson, Ga. GPS Coordinates of Courthouse Main Entrance: 33°28.170N, 82°30.287W Date Built: 1872 Architectural Style: Designer: Unknown

Other Information: The 1870 legislation creating McDuffie County provided that the county's ordinary [probate judge] was to select a lot in Thomson on which to build a courthouse and jail. Until a courthouse could be built, county officials rented the first two floors of the Masonic building for holding court. In Aug. 1872, the legislature authorized the ordinary to issue bonds up to $15,000 to finance construction of a courthouse and jail, with the county to levy a special tax to repay the bondholders. Subsequently, a courthouse was erected (see postcard), which remains in use today. Wings were added and the courtroom was enlarged in 1934. Elevators and stairs were part of a major renovation in 1970. Street Address and Map: County History: McDuffie County was created from Columbia and Warren counties on Oct. 18, 1870 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1870, p. 20). Georgia's 134th county was named for former South Carolina governor, congressman, and U.S. senator George McDuffie (1790-1851). County Seat: The act creating McDuffie County designated Thomson as its county seat, though leaving it to the ordinary [probate judge] to select the actual site for location of the courthouse and jail. When the ordinary declined to choose a site, the county's grand jury in 1871 appointed a committee to designate the land lot on which to build the courthouse. What began as a small settlement in Columbia County became a train stop on the Georgia Railroad in the 1830s. In 1853, the small town was named in honor of J. Edgar Thomson, who surveyed the route of the Georgia Railroad through the settlement twenty years earlier. In 1854, the legislature incorporated Thomson. Maps Historical Maps of McDuffie County Georgia DOT Map of McDuffie County, pdf (603K) Size of County (Total Area): 266.3 square miles County Rank in Total Area: 117th out of 159 Population: McDuffie County 21,231 (2000) McDuffie County Historical Population Profile City of Thomson 6,828 (2000)   © Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia Go to Georgia County Courthouses Contents page