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Other Information: Hall
County's first courthouse was a simple log building built soon
after the county's founding.In 1820, a new courthouse was buiilt
halfway bestween Mule Camp Springs and Redwine Springs. In 1832, a
brick courthouse was built in the public square in Gainesville. This
structure burned in 1851, and a replacement was built--but it burned
also in 1882. The county's next courthouse -- a brick structure [see
photo] -- was built in on South Bradford St. in 1884, but
it was destroyed by a devastating tornando that hit Gainesville in
1936. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt facilitated federal relief monies
to rebuild the city, part of which went to a new courthouse completed
in 1937 [see
photo]. In 1975, a modern-styled addition [see
photo] was built on to the rear of the 1937 courthouse, resulting
in the appearance that the combined building has two different
main entrances. Continuing growth of Hall County led to the need
for additional office space for county government departments, and
in 2000 construction began of a new multi-story brick county courthouse
adjacent to the old courthouse and annex. The new courthouse was completed
in 2002.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: None
County History:
Hall County was created on Dec. 15, 1818, by an act of the General
Assembly (Ga. Laws 1818, p. 27). That legislation also created
Gwinnett and Habersham counties -- all from lands ceded by the Cherokee
Indians on July 8, 1817 in the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency. Additional Cherokee lands were ceded
to Georgia on Feb. 27, 1819 in the Treaty of Washington, and in an act of Dec. 16, 1819, the legislature
added some of ceded land to the western portions of Habersham
and Hall counties (Ga. Laws 1819, p. 23). No new counties were created
from Hall County; however, on numerous occasions between 1818 and 1870,
the legislature transferred small amounts of land between Hall and
neighboring counties.
Georgia's 45th county was named for Lyman Hall, one of Georgia's
three signers of the Declaration of Independence.
County Seat:
On Nov. 30, 1821, the General Assembly designated Gainesville
as the permanent county seat of Hall County and incorporated it
as a village (Ga. Laws 1821, p. 6). Gainesville was named for Virginian
Edmund Gaines (1777-1849), who was a general in the War of 1812 and
founder of Ft. Gaines in southwest Georgia in 1816.
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 429.2 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 54th out of 159
Population:
Hall County
City of Gainesville
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