Formed December 13, 1858 (129th county)
Echols County (3,703), Statenville (3,703)
The Modern style courthouse in Statenville was built in 1956. It is technically on a square at Georgia State Highway 94, United States Highway 129, Courthouse Street, and General Deloach Street. W. Connor Thomson is the architect. This structure replaced an 1899 version in Statenville, the only county seat. Veteran memorials sit outside the courthouse. The county was founded on December 13, 1858 from parts of Clinch and Lowndes counties as the 129th county. The courthouse is a red brick building. State Legislator Robert Milner Echols provided his name for the county. Settler James W. Staten is the source name for the county seat. The county center is 6.7 miles East of Statenville.
Echols County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive). It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.) Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Echols, Atkinson, Baker, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Clay, Clinch, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Turner, and Worth counties and Five County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Echols County (judicial.) The county is in far southern Georgia on the border with Florida. Valdosta, Georgia is immediately west and Jacksonville, Florida is southeast of the county. The Suwannoochee River forms part of the northern border of the county. The county is surrounded clockwise by Clinch County and Florida and Lowndes and Lanier counties.
The area of the county is 404 square miles. It is 54 of 159 in size in the state. It ranks 153 out of 159 in population in the state. It has a density of 9.2 persons per square mile making it 156 out of 159 in the state. Echols County has 100.0% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 41 clips the extreme southwest tip of the county coming from Lowndes County and going into Florida. United States Highway 129 goes north to south in the county from Lanier County into Florida. The county looks like a shoe. Statenville and Echols County are combined thus Statenville occupies the entire county. It is 100.0% of the county population. The county is pronounced EK-ULS. The county seat is pronounced STAE-TEN-VIL. This county is in the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Statenville (unincorporated)
