Coffee

Formed February 9, 1854 (107^th county)

Coffee County (43,088), Douglas (11,721)

The Stripped Classical style building for the 1940 courthouse is made of red brick.  It was enlarged in 1991.  A 1902 courthouse also served this county with Douglas as the only county seat.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county was founded on February 9, 1854 from Clinch, Irwin, Telfair, and Ware counties as the 107^th county.  This structure is located at the intersection of Peterson Avenue, Ward Street, Columbia Avenue, and Ashley Street.  United States Highway 441 is Peterson Avenue in Douglas.  William J. J. Chase is the building architect.  General John E. Coffee is the source name for the county.  Illinois Congressman Stephan A. Douglas is the namesake of the county seat.  He is also the source name for Douglas County and its county seat, Douglasville.  The county center is in Douglas 3 miles North-Northeast of the city center. 

Coffee County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Coffee, Appling, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Effingham, Evans, Glynn, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Ware, and Wayne counties and a State Judge and Six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Coffee County (judicial.) The county is located in south central Georgia east of Albany, Georgia and southwest of Savannah, Georgia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Telfair, Jeff Davis, Bacon, Ware, Atkinson, Berrien, Irwin, and Ben Hill counties. 

The area of the county is 599 square miles.  It is 12 of 159 in size in the state.  It ranks 48 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 71.9 persons per square mile making it 78 out of 159 in the state.  Coffee County has 37.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 221 transits from Jeff Davis County, north, to Atkinson County, south.  United States Highway 319 clips the northwest tip from Telfair County to Ben Hill County.  United States Highway 441 enters from the north, Telfair County, and combines with United States Highway 221 to go into Atkinson County.  The county is shaped like the small letter r lying on its back.  Douglas is in the southern third of the county.  Douglas is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 27.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Douglas Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Nicholls