|
Other Information:
The act creating Spalding County directed that the courthouse
be built in Griffin and authorized the county's inferior court
to select the site. The Griffin City Hall served as Spalding
County courthouse until 1859, when a two-story red brick building
was completed (see photo
1 and photo
2). The steeple and clock tower were removed from the courthouse
in 1910, when the building was converted into the county jail.
A new two-story yellow brick courthouse, designed by A. Ten Eyck
Brown,was completed in 1911 (see
photo). This building served until Jan. 12, 1981, when its
interior was gutted by a fire believed to have started in the
wiring. Though most of the records stored in the courthouse were
saved, the damage was so severe that the building had to be torn
down. Subsequently, the courthouse annex, which had been built
across the street from the courthouse in the early 1970s, became
the temporary courthouse. In the summer of 1981, contracted for
the remodeling of a former A&P grocery store in Griffin for
use by county courts and departments. This building served as
Spalding County's temporary courthouse for four years. Meanwhile,
construction of the current courthouse on the site of the former
courthouse began. Construction of the current courthouse was
completed in the summer of 1985, and in September, county courts
and departments moved in.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Spalding County was created on Dec. 20, 1851, by an act of the
General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1851-52, p. 58). Created from portions
of Fayette, Henry, and Pike Counties, its original boundaries
were specified as:
Beginning on the line now separating the counties of Henry
and Butts, where the Towaliga river crosses the said line,
and running up the middle of the stream of said river to the
point where the western line of lot of land number one hundred
and eighteen in the original second district of Henry county
crosses the same; thence north along the line as run by the
Surveyor in laying off said district into lots, to the north-east
corner of lot number one hundred and forty-nine in the said
district; thence west on the original surveyed line to the
south-west corner of lot number one hundred and eighty-two,
in the original third district of Henry county; thence north
across two ranges of lots; thence west along the surveyed line
to [Flint river in Fayette county; thence down the middle of
the main stream of said river to the south line of the eighth
range of lots in the county of Pike; thence east along the
surveyed line to the principal branch of the Potatoe Creek,
in Pike county; thence down the run of the creek across one
range of lots;] thence east along the surveyed line to the
line now separating the counties of Pike and Monroe; thence
north along the said line to the south-west corner of Butts
county; thence with the line separating Butts from Pike and
Henry counties, to the beginning . . . .
Georgia's 97th county was named for Thomas
Spalding (1774-1851). Spalding was a noted political leader
in Georgia, former congressman, and a planter.
County Seat:
The act creating Spalding County designated the town of Griffin
to serve as county seat and directed the county's new inferior
court to select a site for construction of the county's public
buildings. Griffin was incorporated as a town on Dec. 28, 1843,
while located in Pike County (Ga. Laws 1843, p. 106). Griffin
was initially settled in the 1820s and was first known as Pleasant
Grove. In 1840, Col. Lewis Griffin purchased 800 acres of land
around the settlement. In 1841, a town was laid out and named
after the area's largest land owner.
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 199.6 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 141st out of 159
Population:
Spalding County
City of Griffin
|
