Brooks

Formed December 11, 1858 (127^th county)

Brooks County (16,299), Quitman (4,069)

The Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival courthouse was built in 1864 and is on Screven at Court Street.  Screven Street is United States Highway 84 in the city.  A very nice white brick courthouse has been remodeled 1892, 1968, and 2003.  John Wind was the original architect.  It features a dome and sits in a park setting.  Veteran memorials, a fountain, and a gazebo are on the grounds.  Quitman is the only county seat since the county’s creation on December 11, 1858 as the 127^th county.  Lowndes and Thomas counties provided the land for the county.  The county was named for South Carolina Senator Preston Smith Brooks.  The county seat was named for General John A. Quitman.  He is also the namesake for Quitman County.  The county center is 6.8 miles North of Quitman.  The Withlacoochee River forms its eastern border. 

Brooks County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Brooks, Atkinson, Baker, Berrien, Calhoun, Clay, Clinch, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Grady, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Turner, and Worth counties and a State Judge and Six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Brooks County (judicial.) The county is located in the far south part of Georgia on the border with Florida.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Cook and Lowndes counties and Florida and Thomas and Colquitt counties. 

The area of the county is 494 square miles.  The county is 28 of 159 in the state.  It ranks 103 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 33.0 persons per square mile making it 119 out of 159 in the state.  Brooks County has 30.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 84 crosses east to west through the county from Lowndes County to Thomas County.  United States Highway 221 enters joined with United States Highway 84 from Lowndes County, splits, and exits south into Florida.  The county looks like a face coming out of a block of stone.  Quitman is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Quitman is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 25.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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