Fannin

Formed January 21, 1854 (106^th county)

Fannin County (25,319), Blue Ridge (1,255)

The Modern style red brick and concrete courthouse is located on First Street between Church and Summit streets.  United States Highway 76 Business is two blocks east of the location.  Jennings-King Architects provided the designs.  It was built in 2004 to replace 1895 and 1937 versions of the courthouse.  The 1937 courthouse sits next door.  The current courthouse features columns with the veteran memorials and a Statue of Liberty replica in front of the old courthouse.  The county was organized on January 21, 1854 from parts of Gilmer and Union counties as the 106^th county.  Morgantown was the county seat until 1895 when Blue Ridge took over.  Mexican War hero James Fannin provided the inspiration from the county name.  The county seat gets its name from the mountains.  The county center is 2.1 miles Southwest of Blue Ridge. 

The area of the county is 386 square miles.  It is 63 out of 159 in the state.  It ranks 75 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 65.6 persons per square mile making it 81 out of 159 in the state.  Fannin County has 10.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 76 enters the county from Union County to the east and turns south to exit into Gilmer County.  The county is shaped like a hook.  Blue Ridge is actually northeast of the county centers although the county’s shape is deceiving.  Blue Ridge is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 5.0% of the county population. 

Fannin County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-eight Superior Court Judges serve Fannin, Cherokee, Dawson, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, and White counties and Five County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Fannin County (judicial.) The county is in northern Georgia on the border with North Carolina.  The county is surrounded clockwise by North Carolina and Union, Lumpkin, Gilmer, and Murray counties and Tennessee.