Ware County Courthouse

Photo: Ed Jackson

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

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

Location: Waycross

Date Built: 1957

Architectural Style: Modern with elements of Stripped Classical

Designer: William J.J. Chase & Associates

Other Information: Ware County's first courthouse was a log building at Waresborough (1825), the original county seat. A larger wooden building was erected and served as courthouse until the county seat moved to Waycross in 1873, where a small wooden structure was built. This building soon burned, and the older courthouse at Waresborough was taken apart and reconstructed in Waycross. A two-story brick courthouse with tower was built in 1891 [see postcard 1 and postcard 2]. This served as Ware County courthouse until the current building -- constructed of Georgia marble -- was completed in 1957.

County History: Ware County was established on Dec. 15, 1824 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1824, p. 44). Created from portions of Appling County, Georgia's 60th county was named for U.S. Sen. Nicholas Ware.

Portions of Ware County were used to create the following counties: Clinch (1850), Coffee (1854), Pierce (1857), and Bacon (1914).

County Seat: Waycross [first settled around 1820; became a railroad stop known as "Old Nine" or "Number Nine"; then known as Pendleton; renamed as Tebeauville in 1857; incorporated as Tebeauville in 1866; designated county seat in 1873; and incorporated as "Way Cross" (because it was the intersection of three railroads plus several dirt roads) March 3, 1874].

Previous county seat: Waresborough [designated county seat 1824; incorporated 1858; replaced as county seat 1873].

Maps

• Historical Maps of Ware County
• Georgia DOT Map of Ware County, pdf (1096K)

Size of County (Total Area): 906.6 square miles

County Rank in Total Area: 1st out of 159

Population:

Ware County

• 35,483 (2000)
• Ware County Historical Population Profile

City of Waycross

• 15,333 (2000)

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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