Hall

Formed December 15, 1818 (44^th county)

Hall County (203,166), Gainesville (42,343)                

The Modern style courthouse for Hall County was built in 2003 at Spring and Green streets.  United States Highway 129 Business is one block east of the location.  Steven B. Hill and H. Lloyd Hill are the architects of this red brick structure.  A pedestrian mall is Green Street in front of the facility.  There were also courthouses from 1884 and 1937 in the county in Gainesville, the only county seat.  The county center is in Gainesville 1.5 miles Northeast of the city center. 

Hall County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-eight Superior Court Judges serve Hall, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Habersham, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, and White counties and Three State Judges and Eight County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Hall County (judicial.) The county is in northeast Georgia to the northeast of Atlanta, Georgia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by White, Habersham, Banks, Jackson, Barrow, Gwinnett, Forsyth, Dawson, and Lumpkin counties.  The county was formed on December 15, 1818 from the Cherokee Lands as the 44^th county.  Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Georgia, provided the inspiration for the county’s name.  General Edmund Pendleton Gaines is the namesake for the county seat. 

The area of the county is 394 square miles.  It is 58 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 12 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 515.7 persons per square mile making it 19 out of 159 in the state.  Hall County has 32.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 23 crosses the county from northeast to southwest from Habersham County to Gwinnett County.  United States Highway 129 comes from the north, White County, and goes to the south, Jackson County.  The county’s shape is a fat comma.  Gainesville is located slightly west of center in the county.  Gainesville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 20.8% of the county population.  The Chattahoochee River flows through the center of the county.  This county is in the Gainesville Metropolitan Statistical Area.