Clay

Formed February 16, 1854 (109^th county)

Clay County (2,847), Fort Gaines (993)

The white brick courthouse was built in 1874.  The building is on Washington Street at Thomas Street one block south of Georgia State Highway 37.  The building was renovated in 1939.  The architect for this Italianate Renaissance Revival and Neo-Classical Revival style courthouse is unknown.  It features a porch on the building front.  The courthouse is the oldest one in use in the state.  The county was organized on February 16, 1854 from Early and Randolph counties as the 109^th county.  Fort Gaines has always been the county seat.  Clay County was named for American statesman Henry Clay.  The county seat was named for the fort which was named for General Edmund Pendleton Gaines.  The county center is 4.3 miles Northeast of Fort Gaines. 

Clay County government consists of a chief operations officer, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Clay, Atkinson, Baker, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Clinch, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Grady, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Turner, and Worth counties and Four County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Clay County (judicial.) The county is in southwest Georgia on the border with Alabama.  The Chattahoochee River is its western border.  Columbus, Georgia is north and Albany, Georgia is east of the county.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Quitman, Randolph, Calhoun, and Early counties and Alabama. 

The area of the county is 195 square miles.  It is 141 of 159 in size in the state.  It ranks 156 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 14.6 persons per square mile making it 152 out of 159 in the state.  Clay County has 38.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 27 crosses the eastern part of the county from north to south, Randolph County to Early County.  The county shape is a capital letter L.  Fort Gaines is on the western border near the north-south center line.  Fort Gaines is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 34.9% of the county population.