Polk

Formed December 20, 1851 (95^th county)

Polk County (42,854), Cedartown (10,194)

The Modern Stripped Classical building of red bricks is the 1951 county courthouse.  It is on Prior Street between Main and College streets.  United States Highway 27 is Main Street in town.  It replaced an 1891 structure.  There is a 1936 Annex supporting the courthouse.  William J. J. Chase is the architect.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county was created on December 20, 1851 from Cherokee County as the 95^th county.  Cedartown has been the county seat since the county was founded.  Polk County is named for President James K. Polk.  The county seat is named from the local red cedar trees.  The county center is 7.7 miles East of Cedartown nearer Rockmart. 

The area of the county is 311 square miles.  It is 96 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 49 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 137.8 persons per square mile making it 45 out of 159 in the state.  Polk County has 39.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 27 is a north-south crosser in the county going from Floyd County to Haralson County.  United States Highway 278 goes east to west in the county from Paulding County to Alabama.  The county is shaped like an ocean ship.  Cedartown is located in the western third of the county.  Cedartown is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.8% of the county population. 

Polk County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 6 Commissioners (legislative.)  Thirty-two Superior Court Judges serve Polk, Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cobb, Dade, Douglas, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Walker, and Whitfield counties and Nine County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Polk County (judicial.) Polk County is located in northwest Georgia on the border with Alabama.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Floyd, Bartow, Paulding, and Haralson counties and Alabama.  This county is in the Cedartown Micropolitan Statistical Area.