Formed December 22, 1857 (122nd county)
Schley County (4,546), Ellaville (1,591)
The red brick Romanesque Revival style courthouse was built in 1900 on Broad Street at Oglethorpe Street. Broad Street is United States Highway 19. Golucke & Stewart were the architects. The structure features a tower with a working clock. Veteran memorials are across the street in a city center park. Schley County was established on December 22, 1857 from parts of Marion and Sumter counties as the 122nd county. Ellaville has been the only county seat. It is named for Governor William Schley. Ellaville is named for the daughter of a settler. The county center is 2.9 miles North of Ellaville.
Schley County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Schley, Bibb, Chattahoochee, Crawford, Harris, Houston, Lee, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Peach, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, and Webster counties and Four County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Schley County (judicial.) The county is in western Georgia, north of Albany, Georgia and southwest of Columbus, Georgia. The county is surrounded clockwise by Taylor, Macon, Sumter, and Marion counties.
The area of the county is 168 square miles. It is 150 out of 159 counties in the state. It ranks 152 out of 159 in population in the state. It has a density of 27.1 persons per square mile making it 131 out of 159 in the state. Schley County has 35.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 19 crosses the county north to south from Taylor County to Sumter County. The county is shaped like a Christmas tree with the center off to the northwest. Ellaville is in the southern third of the county. Ellaville is the county seat and the only incorporated city and thus the largest city. It is 35.0% of the county population. The county is pronounced SHEL-LEE. This county is in the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Ellaville
