02/20/09

Photo Gallery: "Spalding County"

Information on the courthouse:

The original Spalding County Courthouse located at the corner of 5th and Broadway Streets was not built until 1859 at a cost of $12,000. It was directly by the railroad tracks that cut through the center of town. Until then court sessions were held in the Griffin City Hall. In 1910 the steeple and clock tower were removed from this building and it was converted into a jail. Today it houses the Spalding County Extension Service and 4 H Offices.The next building to serve as the Spalding County Courthouse was at the corner of 6th and Solomon.

This building was designed by A. Teneyck Brown and completed in 1911 by Newton Coal and Lumber Company. This four-columned building was destroyed by fire on January 12, 1981.

While awaiting the completion of a new courthouse, a shopping center served as temporary court and county office buildings Construction on the present Courthouse was begun in 1982.
(Source: www.cityofgriffin.com)

Marker text:

Spalding County was created by Act of Dec. 20, 1851 from Fayette, Henry and Pike Counties. It was named for Thomas Spalding (1771-1851), native of Frederica. One of the earliest cotton and sugar cane planters in Georgia, he was a legislator, state senator, Congressman, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1798. First officers of Spalding County, commissioned Feb. 5, 1852, were: Addison A. Wooten, Sheriff; Henry B. Holliday, Clk. Sup. Ct.; James S. Wood, Clk. Inf. Ct.; William L. Gordon, Ord.; Elisha P. Bolton, Tax Rec.; Pressley Burdett, Tax Col.; Hezekiah Wheeler, Coroner; William Ellis, Surveyor.

126-9 Georgia Historical Commission 1956