Clayton

Formed November 30, 1858 (125^th county)

Clayton County (297,608), Jonesboro (4,226), Forest Park (19,771)

The 2003 Modern style Justice Center is built of red brick and masonry.  It is located on McDonough Street at Courthouse Way next to the old 1898 courthouse.  It is four blocks east of United States Highway 19.  There were also courthouses dating from 1869 and 1898 in Jonesboro, the only county seat.  Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum are the Justice Center architects.  Golucke and Stewart designed the red brick courthouse.  A supporting annex dates from 1980.  The county was established on November 30, 1858 from Fayette and Henry counties as the 125^th county.  Congressman Augustin Smith Clayton provided the source for the county name.  He is also the source name for the county seat of Rabun County.  Railroad officer Samuel G. Jones is the namesake of the county seat.  The county center is 3 miles Northwest of Jonesboro nearer Riverdale. 

Clayton County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Eighteen Superior Court Judges serve Clayton, Butts, Carroll, Coweta, Fayette, Heard, Henry, Lamar, Meriwether, Monroe, Pike, Spalding, Troup, and Upson counties and Four State Judges and Ten County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Clayton County (judicial.) The county is in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia just south of the City of Atlanta.  The county is surrounded clockwise by De Kalb, Henry, Spalding, Fayette, and Fulton counties. 

The area of the county is 143 square miles.  It is 157 of 159 in size in the state.  It ranks 5 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 2081.2 persons per square mile making it 4 out of 159 in the state.  Clayton County has 20.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 75 comes into the county from the north, Fulton County, and goes south into Henry County.  Interstate Highway 85 crosses the northwest tip from Fulton County and back into Fulton County.  United States Highways 19/41 go north to south through the county from Fulton County to Spalding County.  United States Highway 23 parallels Interstate Highway 75 from Fulton County to Henry County.  The county looks like a funnel with Jonesboro located near the center.  Forest Park is in the northern quarter of the county.  Jonesboro is the county seat and Forest Park is the largest city.  Jonesboro is 1.4% of the county population while Forest Park is 6.6% of the county population.  This county is in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area.

College Park