Walker

Formed December 18, 1833 (89^th county)

Walker County (67,660), La Fayette (6,892)

The Classical Revival and Italian Renaissance Revival style government look to the tan brick and masonry building was created in 1916.  There was also an 1883 version of the courthouse also in La Fayette, the only county seat.  The current building is at Duke and Patton streets.  United States Highway 27 Business is one block west.  Charles E. Bearden is the architect.  The building features faux columns.  Walker County was established on December 18, 1833 from Cherokee County as the 89^th county.  The county is named for Senator Freeman Walker.  The county seat is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, Revolutionary War hero.  He is also the source name for Fayette County and its county seat.  The county center is 12 miles North of La Fayette nearer Rock Spring. 

Walker 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 Walker, Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cobb, Dade, Douglas, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Polk, and Whitfield counties and a State Judge and Four County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Walker County (judicial.) Walker County is in far northwest Georgia on the border with Tennessee.  Chattanooga, Tennessee is directly north across the border.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Tennessee and Catoosa, Whitfield, Gordon, Floyd, and Chattooga counties and Alabama and Dade County. 

The area of the county is 446 square miles.  It is 40 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 36 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 151.7 persons per square mile making it 42 out of 159 in the state.  Walker County has 23.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 27 enters the county from the north, Tennessee, and exits south into Chattooga County.  The overall shape of the county looks like a capital letter L.  La Fayette is in the southern third of the county.  La Fayette is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 10.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area.