Telfair County Courthouser-McRea, Georgia
Posted by: 
Sprinterman
N 32° 04.011 W 082° 53.804
17S E 320959 N 3549419
Located in downtown McRae, Georgia
Waymark Code: WMA5DZ
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 11/20/2010
Views: 4
The date of completion of Telfair County's first courthouse is not clear. In an act of Dec. 14, 1815, the legislature incorporated Jacksonville and directed the new town commissioners to assemble "at the court-house in said town" (Ga. Laws 1815, p. 68). However, in Dec. 1816, the legislature authorized Telfair County's inferior court to levy a special tax for building a courthouse and jail. In Dec. 1818, additional legislation was enacted authorizing the inferior court to levy a special tax and to continue it from year to year until a courthouse and jail were completed. So unless the first courthouse was built on borrowed money, it seems probable that it was not completed until around 1820.
Little is known about the fate of Telfair County's first courthouse and how many other courthouses were built during the following half century. A wooden, two-story courthouse was built in Jacksonville around 1860. In 1871, the county seat moved from Jacksonville to McRae. In an act of Aug. 27, 1872, the legislature authorized Telfair County officials to borrow the necessary funds "and apply the proceeds to the completion of the new court-house now being erected in said county" (Ga. Laws 1872, p. 470). The new courthouse -- a large, two-story brick structure -- was completed in 1873. This building, however, burned in the early 1930s. It was replaced by Telfair County's current courthouse, which was completed in 1934.
Year Built: 1934
Current Use of Building: Vacant-Under Repair
Level of Courts: State/Provincial
Architect: Dennis & Dennis
Dates this building was used to house judicial proceedings: 1934-??
Physical Address: Not listed
Hours: Not listed
Related Website: Not listed
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