Laurens

Formed December 10, 1807 (32^nd county)

Laurens County (49,581), Dublin (16,067)                

The Modern style 1962 version of the Laurens County courthouse is at Jackson between Jefferson and Franklin.  United States Highway 80 is Jefferson Street.  This dark red brick building replaced a classic 1895 courthouse.  Cunningham and Forehand are the structure’s designers.  The facility features columns and veteran memorials are across the street.  The county was formed on December 10, 1807 from Wilkinson County as the 32^nd county.  Sumterville (1807) and Dublin (1811) have both served as the county seat.  Revolutionary War hero John Laurens inspired the name for the county.  Dublin is named for Dublin, Ireland by the town’s land donator.  The county center is 11.3 miles Southwest of Dublin nearer Dexter. 

Laurens County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Fifteen Superior Court Judges serve Laurens, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Bleckley, Candler, Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Emanuel, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Montgomery, Morgan, Pulaski, Putnam, Telfair, Toombs, Treutlen, Twiggs, Washington, Wheeler, Wilcox, and Wilkinson counties and Six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Laurens County (judicial.) The county is in east central Georgia southeast of Macon, Georgia and northwest of Savannah, Georgia.  The Oconee River flows through the county.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Johnson, Treutlen, Wheeler, Dodge, Bleckley, and Twiggs counties. 

The area of the county is 813 square miles.  It is 3 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 42 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 61.0 persons per square mile making it 84 out of 159 in the state.  Laurens County has 41.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 16 crosses east to west in the county from Treutlen County to Twiggs County.  United States Highway 80 parallels Interstate Highway 16 from Johnson County to Twiggs County.  United States Highway 319 enters from Johnson County, northeast, and exits into Wheeler County, south.  United States Highway 441 comes in from Wilkinson County to the northwest and joins United States Highway 319 to go into Wheeler County.  The county is diamond shaped.  Dublin is located in the northern third of the county.  Dublin is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 32.4% of the county population.  This county is in the Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area.