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Other Information:
Pike County's first courthouse was a simple wooden structure
built in Newnan. After Zebulon was designated county seat in
1825, a brick courthouse was erected on the public square. The
structure was replaced by the present courthouse in 1895.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Pike County was created on Dec. 9, 1822 by an act of the General
Assembly (Ga. Laws 1822, p. 21). The county was organized by
acts of Dec. 23, 1822 (Ga. Laws 1822, p. 23) and Dec. 20, 1824
(Ga. Laws 1824, p. 45). Later, parts of Pike County were used
to help create the following counties: Upson (1824), Spalding
(1851), and Lamar (1920).
Georgia's 56th county was created from Monroe County and named
for Gen.
Zebulon Pike (1779-1813), noted Western explorer who was
killed during the War of 1812.
Click here
for more historical information on Pike County.
County Seat:
The legislation creating Pike County made no provision for selecting
a county seat. An act of Dec. 23, 1822 designated the county's
inferior court as a commission to select a county seat, "which
shall be as near the centre of the county as convenience will
admit" (Ga. Laws 1822, p. 23). Initially, the legislation
directed that Pike County courts and elections be held in land
lot 109 in the 8th district. Subsequently, the inferior court
purchased land lot 202 in the 8th district to serve as county
seat. In an act of Dec. 26, 1823, the legislature confirmed this
action and named and incorporated the site as the town of Newnan
(Ga. Laws 1823, p. 186). An act of Dec. 20, 1824 continued to
recognize Newnan as county seat -- but authorized the inferior
court to move the county seat to a site near the center of the
county (Ga. Laws 1824, p. 45). On Nov. 25, 1825, the legislature
designated Zebulon as county seat and on Dec. 24 authorized compensation
for Newnan landowners whose property values would suffer because
of removal of the county seat (Ga. Laws 1825, p. 146). Soon afterwards,
the town of Newnan died. At some later point, the Zebulon city
government became inactive. By 1849, Zebulon residents were concerned
that the town had lost its incorporated status, so in an act
of Jan.17, 1850, the legislature confirmed Zebulon as a municipal
corporation (Ga. Laws 1849-50, p. 101).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 219.5 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 133rd out of 159
Population:
Pike County
City of Zebulon
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