Quitman County Courthouse

Photo: Keith Hair

 

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

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

Location: Georgetown

Date Built: 1939

Architectural Style: Stripped Classical with Colonial Revival elements

Designer: T.F. Lockwood, Jr.

Other Information: At some point soon after creation of Quitman County, a wooden two-story courthouse was built in Georgetown. That structure burned in 1920. A rented warehouse was used as a temporary courthouse until a new one could be built. Apparently county revenues were insufficient to fund construction of a new courthouse -- a problem compounded with arrival of the Depression. Quitman County took advantage of federal relief funds to build the one-story brick courthouse in 1939.

County Courthouse Historical Marker: Click here

County History: Quitman County was created from Randolph and Stewart counties on Dec. 10, 1858, by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1858, p. 28). Georgia's 128th county was named for Gen. John A. Quitman (1799-1858). Quitman had served in the Mexican War and had been governor of Mississippi--but it was his outspoken defense of states rights that made him so popular in Georgia. Five months after Quitman died, the General Assembly named a new county in his honor.

In November 2006, citizens of Quitman County and the city of Georgetown voted to consolidate into a single government. Elections for the new governing body will be held March 20, 2007. Depending on whether a run-off election is needed, the new consolidated government will go into effect either the first week of April or first week of May 2007. Georgetown-Quitman County became Georgia's fifth consolidated government.

County Seat: Georgetown. The legislation creating Quitman County did not name a county seat but left this to be decided by the justices of the inferior court. The law further directed that an election of inferior court justices and other county officials be held in Feb. 1859. Following the election, the justices named Georgetown as county seat. The town was originally settled with the name Tabanana (after the creek of the same name) in 1831 or 1832. In 1836, the name was changed to Georgetown [presumably after the town of the same name in the District of Columbia]. Georgetown was incorporated on Dec. 9, 1859 by an act of the legislature.

Maps

• Historical Maps of Quitman County
• Georgia DOT Map of Quitman County, pdf (407K)

Size of County (Total Area): 160.9 square miles

County Rank in Total Area: 154 out of 159

Population:

Quitman County

• 2,598 (2000)
• Quitman County Historical Population Profile

City of Georgetown

• 973 (2000)

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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