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Gwinnett County
Courthouse | |
|---|---|
| Location | Lawrenceville |
| Date Built | 1988 |
| Architecture Style | Modern |
| Designer | Henningson, Durham and Richardson (Dallas, Tx.), Architects Plus (Norcross, Ga.) |
| Seat Information | In 1819, the home of Elisha Winn in Hog Mountain served as the temporary county seat of Gwinnett County. The next year, Land Lot 143 became the new county seat, followed by Land Lot 146 (the site that would become Lawrenceville) An act of Dec. 15, 1821 incorporated the new town of Lawrenceville and formally proclaimed it county seat of Gwinnett County. Lawrenceville was named for naval commander Capt. James Lawrence, a hero of the War of 1812. As he lay dying aboard the Chesapeake, Lawrence uttered the immortal plea to his men, "Don't give up the ship!" |
| Courthouse Details | Soon after its creation, Gwinnett County had a series of three temporary courthouses. In 1819, Elisha Winn, who lived in Hog Mountain, allowed the county to use his house and barn as a courthouse. For a year, inferior court and county elections were held in Winn's house, while superior court met in his barn (near which a small jail was built). In 1820, Isham Williams built a log courthouse on land he owned (Land Lot 143, located near present-day Lawrenceville). When Williams and the county could not agree on a purchase price for the land, Elisha Winn bought the 250 acres comprising Land Lot 146, where a second log courthouse was built on the site that would become Lawrenceville. In 1824, the second log courthouse was replaced by a brick structure. In 1856, the legislature authorized Gwinnett County to levy a special tax to erect a new courthouse -- but apparently nothing was done. The 1824 courthouse burned in 1871, and that December the legislature authorized Gwinnett County to borrow up to $8,000 to build another courthouse, which was completed in 1872. This new building, however, was widely criticized over its construction, and in 1884 was torn down and replaced by the two-story brick courthouse that still stands today in downtown Lawrenceville. The 1970s and '80s were decades of substantial population growth in Gwinnett County, necessitating the creation of additional superior court judgeships. By the early 1980s, Gwinnett's courthouse was so crowded that a superior court judge ordered the county commission to build a new and larger facility. In 1988, construction was completed on a new Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center that serves as courthouse and multi-purpose county government center . |
County Data | |
|---|---|
| Population | 805,321 |
| Population 2000 | 588,448 |
| Population Growth | 36.9 |
| County Seat | Lawrenceville |
| County Area | 436.7 Square Miles |
| Location Map |  |
| History | Gwinnett County was established on Dec. 15, 1818 by an act of the General Assembly. That legislation created Gwinnett, Habersham, and Hall counties from lands ceded by the Cherokee Indians on July 8, 1817 in the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency and by the Creek Indians on January 22, 1818 in the Treaty of the Creek Agency. Both treaties were necessary because the traditional boundary between the Creeks and Cherokees ran through present-day Gwinnett County. Four days after the creation of Gwinnett County, the legislature added a portion of western Jackson County. Georgia’s 44th county was named for provisional Georgia governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence Button Gwinnett (1735-1777). Portions of Gwinnett County were used to create DeKalb County (1822) and Barrow County (1914). Additionally, between 1819 and 1875, portions of Gwinnett were transferred to the following counties: Hall (1819), Jackson (1819), DeKalb (1823, 1828, and 1829), Walton (1820), and Rockdale (1875). |
| Web Site | Visit Web Site |
| Legal Organ | Gwinnett Daily Post |
| Chamber of Commerce Web Site | Visit Web Site |
Historical Population | |
|---|---|
| Year | Population |
| 2010 | 805,321 |
| 2000 | 588,448 |
| 1990 | 352,910 |
| 1980 | 166,903 |
| 1970 | 72,349 |
| 1960 | 43,541 |
| 1950 | 32,320 |
| 1940 | 29,087 |
| 1930 | 27,853 |
| 1920 | 30,327 |
| 1910 | 28,824 |
| 1900 | 25,585 |
| 1890 | 19,899 |
| 1880 | 19,531 |
| 1870 | 12,431 |
| 1860 | 12,940 |
| 1850 | 11,257 |
| 1840 | 10,804 |
| 1830 | 13,289 |
| 1820 | 4,589 |
