Wilkes County was created in 1777 as one of Georgia's original eight counties, carved from the large tract of land ceded by the Creek and Cherokee in the 1773 treaty that opened the region north of the Little River to colonial settlement. The first sustained waves of settlers arrived from North Carolina and Virginia, including families such as the Clarkes, Doolys, Waltons, Heard, and Meriwether lines, many of whom established homesteads along Long Creek, the Savannah River, and the Little River settlements that predated the county's formal creation. The county was named for John Wilkes, the British parliamentarian who championed colonial rights, and it quickly developed into a center of agriculture, frontier defense, and Revolutionary era political life.
This courthouse is the fifth courthouse to serve the county and one of the most architecturally distinctive public buildings in northeast Georgia. Built in 1904 and designed by Frank Pierce Milburn, it reflects the Richardsonian Romanesque style that Milburn used in several southern courthouses, marked by its heavy brick massing, rounded arches, and the dramatic clock tower that once rose even higher before a 1956 fire destroyed the ornate upper portion of the building including the original roofline and the more elaborate clock tower. A restoration in 1989 attempted to approximate the 1904 appearance, though on a smaller scale, resulting in the present tower and simplified roof.
Milburn's 1904 design used orange colored pressed brick, rough faced stone foundations, and a facade organized with alternating projecting and recessed bays. The first-floor windows sit under heavy stone lintels, while the second-floor windows are round arched with radiating brick voussoirs and occasional terra cotta ornament.
This is one of several Milburn courthouses I've reviewed across the south. They include the Wayne County Courthouse in Goldsboro North Carolina, the Columbia County (Lake City Florida), Wise County (Virginia), Boyd County (Catlettsburg Kentucky) and Lowndes County (Valdosta Georga). It is quite unlike the others.
[Review 241 of 2026 - 938 in Georgia - 25430 overall] read more