Quitman County is a
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located in the southwestern part of the
U.S. state of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. As of the
2020 census, the population was 2,235, making it the second-least populous county in Georgia. The
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is
Georgetown.
The county was created on December 10, 1858, and named after General
John A. Quitman, leader in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
, and once
Governor of Mississippi. In November 2006, residents voted to consolidate the city government of Georgetown and the county government of Quitman into a
consolidated city-county
In local government in the United States, United States local government, a consolidated city-county (#Terminology, see below for alternative terms) is formed when one or more city, cities and their surrounding County (United States), county (Lis ...
.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (5.8%) is water.
The entirety of Quitman County is located in the Middle
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...
–
Walter F. George Lake sub-basin of the
ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).
Major highways
*
U.S. Route 82
*
State Route 27
*
State Route 39
*
State Route 50
Adjacent counties
*
Stewart County (north)
*
Randolph County (east)
*
Clay County (south)
*
Barbour County,
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
(west/CST Border)
National protected area
*
Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge (part)
Communities
City
*
Georgetown (county seat)
Unincorporated community
*
Morris
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 2,235 people, 842 households, and 577 families residing in the county.
Education
Quitman County School District operates area public schools, including
Quitman County High School.
County students attended Stewart-Quitman High School (now
Stewart County High School) from 1978, until Quitman County High opened,
in 2009.
Politics
From the 1940s to 1960s Joe Hurst dominated politics in Quitman County, delivering votes for statewide officials, state judges, and prosecuting attorneys, under the
County unit system
The county unit system was a voting system used by the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to determine a victor in statewide primary elections, as well as some Congressional elections, from 1917 until 1962.
History
Though the county unit ...
which gave Quitman two units, a third as many as the biggest counties in the state. He hand-delivered state welfare checks and prevented secret ballots. In 1962 he stuffed the ballot box for future President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
's opponent in a state senate primary. Carter won a series of court cases to remove his Democratic primary opponent's name from the general election ballot. There was no Republican candidate. Both candidates used radio ads to ask voters to vote by write-in, and Carter won the general election. Hurst was later convicted of fraud in an earlier primary, for which he had a fine and three years probation. He was also convicted of selling moonshine, for which he went to prison.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Quitman County, Georgia
*
List of counties in Georgia
The U.S. state of Georgia is divided into 159 counties, the second-highest number after Texas, which has 254 counties. Under the Georgia State Constitution, all of its counties are granted home rule to deal with problems that are purely loca ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Georgetown-Quitman County Consolidated GovernmentQuitman County Sheriff*
*
Digital Public Library of America. Assorted items related t
Quitman County
{{Authority control
1858 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (U.S. state) counties
Populated places established in 1858
Consolidated city-counties