Columbia

Formed December 10, 1790 (12^th county)

Columbia County (156,010), Appling* (658), Grovetown (15,573)

The red brick courthouse was built in 1856 on United States Highway 221 just north of Schucraft Road.  John Trowbridge was the building architect in Carpenter and Italianate style.  A Government Center was added in 1994 and a Justice Center was added in 2002 both in Evans.  The Justice Center is on Ronald Reagan Drive at Norwood Street.  Georgia State Highway 104 is 2 blocks south of the site.  The dark red brick structure features columns and porches. Rosser International Inc., designed the Justice Center.  The county was carved from Richmond County on December 10, 1790 as the 12^th county.  The county was named for Christopher Columbus as was Columbus, Georgia the county seat of Muscogee County.  The county seat is named for landowner William Appling and war hero Colonel John Appling.  He is the source name for Appling County.  Cobbham (1790), Klokee (1792) and Appling (1793) have all served as county seat.  Columbia County was the birthplace of 1 Georgia Governor, George W. Crawford.  The county center is 9.1 miles East of Appling nearer Evans. 

Columbia County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-four Superior Court Judges serve Columbia, Banks, Barrow, Burke, Clarke, Elbert, Franklin, Glascock, Hart, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, McDuffie, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Richmond, Taliaferro, Walton, Warren, and Wilkes counties and Six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Columbia County (judicial.) The county is in far eastern Georgia on the border with South Carolina.  The Savannah River is its eastern border.  Augusta, Georgia is immediately southeast of the county.  The county is surrounded clockwise by South Carolina and Richmond, McDuffie, and Lincoln counties. 

The area of the county is 290 square miles.  It is 100 of 159 in size in the state.  It ranks 16 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 538.0 persons per square mile making it 17 out of 159 in the state.  Columbia County has 12.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 20 crosses east to west from Richmond County to McDuffie County.  United States Highways 78/278 parallel Interstate Highway 20 from Richmond County to McDuffie County.  The county is shaped like a pile of leaves.  Appling is near the county center.  Grovetown is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Appling is the county seat although it is unincorporated.  Groveton is the largest city.  Appling is 0.4% of the county population while Grovetown is 10.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area.