Whitfield

Formed December 30, 1851 (97^th county)

Whitfield County (102,866), Dalton (34,443)

The Modern style red brick structure, built in 2006, replaced 1891 and 1961 courthouses.  It is on Selvidge Street between Thornton and King streets.  Georgia State Highway 4 is Thornton Street.  There are two Administrative offices augmenting the courthouse.  JKH Architects are the courthouse designers.  Veteran memorials and an eternal flame are on the grounds.  The building is under renovation in 2021.  Whitfield County was established on December 30, 1851 from Cherokee County as the 97^th county with Dalton as the only county seat.  The county is named for Reverend George Whitefield.  Mary Dalton, mother of a settler, is the namesake of the county seat.  The county center is 2.5 miles North of Dalton. 

Whitfield County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Thirty-two Superior Court Judges serve Whitfield, Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cobb, Dade, Douglas, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Polk, and Walker counties and Five County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Whitfield County (judicial.) The county is in northwest Georgia just to the southeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee and on the border with Tennessee.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Tennessee and Murray, Gordon, Walker, and Catoosa counties. 

The area of the county is 290 square miles.  It is 101 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 25 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 354.7 persons per square mile making it 24 out of 159 in the state.  Whitfield County has 37.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 75 enters from the northwest, Catoosa County, and exits to the south, Gordon County.  United States Highway 41 parallels Interstate Highway 75 from Catoosa County to Gordon County.  The Conasauga River forms its eastern border.  The county is shaped like a chair.  Dalton is slightly south and west of the center of the county.  Dalton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 33.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Varnell