Johnson

Formed December 11, 1858 (128^th county)

Johnson County (9,192), Wrightsville (3,469)

The red/pink brick building in Wrightsville was originally built in 1895 and remodeled in 1938 and 1996.  It is on a square at Elm, Marcus, Court, and Bradford streets.  United States Highway 319 is Elm Street.  James Wingfield Golucke and Stewart are the building architects in the Romanesque Revival style.  The structure features a tower with a working clock and veteran memorials on the grounds.  The county was created on December 11, 1858 from parts of Emanuel, Laurens, and Washington counties as the 128^th county.  Wrightsville has been the only county seat.  The county is named for Governor Herschel Vespasian Johnson.  The county seat is named for town founder James B. Wright.  The county center is 3.6 miles Southeast of Wrightsville. 

Johnson County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Fifteen Superior Court Judges serve Johnson, Bleckley, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Candler, Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Emanuel, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jefferson, Jones, Laurens, Montgomery, Morgan, Pulaski, Putnam, Telfair, Toombs, Treutlen, Twiggs, Washington, Wheeler, Wilcox, and Wilkinson counties and Four County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Johnson County (judicial.) The county is surrounded clockwise by Washington, Jefferson, Emanuel, Treutlen, Laurens, and Wilkinson counties. 

The area of the county is 304 square miles.  It is 97 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 129 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 30.2 persons per square mile making it 122 out of 159 in the state.  Johnson County has 43.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 221 crosses the eastern part of the county north to south from Jefferson County to Emanuel County.  United States Highway 319 goes northeast to southwest from Jefferson County to Laurens County.  The county is shaped like a rocket ship flying northeast.  Wrightsville is in the northwest quarter of the county.  Wrightsville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 37.7% of the county population.  This county is in the Dublin Micropolitan Statistical Area.