Bryan County Courthouse

Photo: Ed Jackson

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

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

Location: Pembroke

Date Built: 1938

Architectural Style: Neoclassical Revival

Designer: Walter P. Marshall

Other Information: An annex of similar architectural style was built at the rear of the courthouse in 1969.

County Courthouse Historical Marker: Click here

County History: Bryan was one of five counties created by an act of the General Assembly approved on Dec. 19, 1793 [and in terms of order listed in the act was Georgia's 19th county]. Created from portions of Chatham County, it was named for Jonathan Bryan (1708-1788). Born in South Carolina, Bryan had close ties to Georgia from the arrival of the first colonists in 1733. He became noted for his support of colonists' rights in Georgia, and during the Revolution Bryan was captured and imprisoned by the British.

In 1794, a portion of Effingham County was transferred to Bryan County. A portion of Bryan County was used to create Bulloch County in 1796. Also, a portion of Bryan County was transferred to Chatham County in 1847.

County Seat: The colonial town of Hardwick, laid out in 1755, served as the initial county seat. In 1797, the General Assembly designated that court be held at a settlement at a settlement two miles from the Ogeechee River known as Cross Roads. In 1854, a wooden courthouse was built here -- a site frequently identified simplay as Bryan Courthouse. Later, Eden became county seat, and in 1901 the county seat was moved to Clyde, where a two-story wooden courthouse was built. Clyde remained county seat until the U.S. Army initiated plans for an anti-artillery training center. Because Cross Roads lay in the area needed by the Army for what would become Camp [and later Fort] Stewart, the Georgia General Assembly designated the town of Pembroke as Bryan's new county seat in 1937. Pembroke, a railroad settlement, incorporated by the legislature on Aug. 23, 1905, was named for Pembroke Williams.

Maps

• Georgia DOT Map of Bryan County, pdf (863K)
• Historical Maps of Bryan County

Size of County (Total Area): 454.5 square miles

County Rank in Total Area: 42nd out of 159

Population:

Bryan County

• 23,417 (2000)
• Bryan County Historical Population Profile

City of Pembroke

• 2,379 (2000)

Go to Georgia County Courthouses Contents page