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Other Information:
It is not known what initially served as Marion County courthouse.
An act of Dec. 17, 1828 appointed nine local citizens to serve
as commissioners to select a county seat (Ga. Laws 1828, p. 155).
Once that site was designated, the county's inferior court was
directed to erect a courthouse and jail. Until such time, Marion
County court sessions elections were to be held "at the
usual place of holding courts and elections." It is believed
that in 1829, a courthouse was built in the settlement of Horry
(later renamed Marionville). After Tazewell was designated county
seat in 1838, a new courthouse was built the following year.
This wooden structure burned in 1845, and a new courthouse was
built in 1848 (see
profile). In 1849 or 1850, Buena Vista was designated the
new county seat, and a new two-story brick courthouse was completed
in 1850 (see
photo). In 1928, a Neoclassical entrance with columns was
added to the courthouse.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Marion County was created from Lee and Muscogee counties on Dec.
14, 1827 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1827, p.
69). According to the act, Marion County's boundaries were defined
as:
. . . so much of the counties of Lee and Muscogee as are
contained in the following boundaries, to wit: beginning in
the centre of lot number 120, in the 10th Muscogee, and running
southwardly along the county line of Muscogee, to the south
east corner of lot 136, in the 32d district Lee county, thence
east to the upper corner of fraction number 145, in the 28th
Lee, on Flint river, thence up said river to the south east
corner of fraction number 280, in the first Muscogee, thence
with the county line of Talbot to the beginning.
Between 1827 and 1876, Marion County gave up land to Chattahoochee,
Crawford, Macon, Muscogee, Schley, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, and
Webster counties.
Georgia's 74th county was named for Revolutionary War hero
Gen. Francis
"Swamp Fox" Marion (1732-1795) of South Carolina.
County Seat:
The Dec. 14, 1827 legislation creating Marion County made no
provision for a county seat. However, on Dec. 27, 1828, the legislature
named nine local citizens as commissioners to select the location
for Marion County's seat of government. The site they initially
picked was known as Horry (a name of unknown derivation), though
by 1839 the name had changed to Marionville (see
map).
In an act of Dec. 27, 1838, the legislature designated Tazewell
as county seat and directed that the courthouse be erected on
land lot 230 in the fourth district of the county (Ga. Laws 1838,
p. 127). The same act incorporated Tazewell as a town. The town's
name honored Henry
Tazewell (1753-1799), who represented Virginia in the U.S.
Senate until his death.
Dec. 27, 1845, the legislature repealed the law naming Tazewell
as Marion County seat of government (Ga. Laws 1845, p. 76). In
its spring 1846 session, Marion County's grand jury was directed
to name seven commissioners with responsibility for selecting
a new county seat. The law directed that the new county seat
be within one mile of the center of the county. However, removal
of the county seat was conditioned upon approval by county voters
in a referendum scheduled for the first Monday in February 1846.
That did not take place, so the legislature passed a new act
on Dec. 27, 1847 providing for a referendum on removal of Marion's
county seat to be held on the first Monday in April 1848 (Ga.
Laws 1847, p. 71) . If voters favored removal, a second election
was directed for electing seven commissioners to select the new
site for the county seat. This time, the referendum was approved.
In 1848 or 1849, the commissioners chose a site known Pea Ridge
on land lot 110 in the fourth district of the county. Local residents
wanted to give their new county seat a new name and initially
designated it as Taylor (after Gen. Zachary Taylor). However,
there was already a Taylor, Ga., so they decided to recognize
Gen. Taylor's Feb.1847 victory over Gen. Santa Anna at the Battle
of Buena Vista in the Mexican War. On Jan. 26, 1850, the legislature
formally designated Buena Vista as county seat of Marion County
and incorporated it as a town (Ga. Laws 1849-50, p. 102).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 367.5 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 71st out of 159
Population:
Marion County
City of Buena Vista
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