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Other Information:
In an act of Jan. 23, 1780, the Georgia legislature provided
for a government for Augusta and directed the new town commissioners
to build a courthouse, jail, and seminary of learning. Shortly
thereafter, British forces recaptured Augusta, and no action
on a courthouse was taken until after the war. In 1783, the legislature
reappointed a town commission and directed to implement the 1780
plan for Augusta. Instead of building a courthouse, however,
the commission in 1784 purchased a house on Bay St. and enlarged
it to serve as a multi-purpose facility. Here, Richmond County's
first academy opened on April 12, 1785. The building also serve
as county courthouse and meeting hall for the state legislature
(as Augusta was now state capital). In 1801, the city of Augusta
constructed a new building on Telfair St. to serve as city hall.
Known as the "Government House," this building also
served as Richmond County courthouse. In 1820, a new brick courthouse
with clock tower was built on Greene St. Wings were added to
the courthouse in 1870, and the entire structure remodeled in
1892 (see photo
1 and photo
2). In 1956, construction began on a new Augusta-Richmond
County Municipal Building, with the facility completed the following
year.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
The land that would form Richmond County was ceded to the English
by the Creeks in the Treaty
of Savannah on May 21, 1733, confirmed and expanded by agreements
of 1735 and 1736. By an act
of March 15, 1758, the colonial legislature created seven
parishes. The area of present-day Richmond County primarily fell
within St. Paul Parish (see
map). With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Whig
forces took control of government in Georgia. On Feb. 5, 1777,
they adopted the state's first constitution -- the Constitution
of 1777. Art.
IV of that document transformed the existing colonial parishes
into seven counties, with Indian ceded lands forming an eighth
county. Richmond County, which was second on the list and thus
is considered Georgia's second county, consisted of all of St.
Paul Parish. The county was named for the third Duke of Richmond,
Charles Lenox (1735-1806), who was British secretary of state
and sympathetic to the cause of the American colonies.
In 1790, Columbia County was created from the northern half
of Richmond County (Ga. Laws 1790, p. 9).
County Seat:
Founded in 1736, Augusta early became the most important population
and economic center for its region. The Constitution of 1777
created Richmond and seven other new counties -- but made no
provision for county seats. Nevertheless, except for the two
occasions during the American Revolution when it was under British
control, Augusta has served as de facto or legal county seat
of Richmond County throughout the county's history. Early pressures
to move the county seat to a more central location ended in 1790,
when the legislature created Columbia County from the northern
half of Richmond County. Named for the daughter-in-law of King
George II, Augusta was given a town government by the legislature
in an act of Jan. 23, 1780 and even a city charter in 1789 (Ga.
Laws 1789, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 25). However, it was not officially
incorporated by the General Assembly until 1798 (Ga. Laws 1798,
p. 3).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 328.5 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 90th out of 159
Population:
Richmond County
City of Augusta
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