Oglethorpe County
Population
1800 9,780
1810 12,297
1820 14,046
1830 13,618
1840 10,868
1850 12,259
1860 11,549
1870 11,782
1880 15,400
1890 16,951
1900 17,881
1910 18,680
1920 20,287
1930 12,927
1940 12,430
1950 9,958
1960 7,926
1970 7,598
1980 8,929
1990 9,763
2000 12,635
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About Oglethorpe County
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Oglethorpe County was
created on December 19, 1793 entirely out of Wilkes County. It was named for General
James Edward Oglethorpe, who founded the colony of Georgia, at Savannah, in 1733. A
soldier and philanthropist, Oglethorpe created the colony as an asylum for British
debtors. He remained in Georgia for nine years and drove the invading Spanish troops
back into Florida. He returned to England in 1742 and died there in 1785. |
James Edward Oglethorpe
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The area that
encompasses Oglethorpe County was originally inhabited primarily by the Creek and Cherokee
tribes. It was opened to settlement by a treaty with the tribes in 1771. These
"Ceded Lands", as the area was called, became Wilkes County in 1777. In
1793, a northwestern portion of Wilkes County was cut aside to form the new county of
Oglethorpe.
Several border adjustments were made in the following years. In 1794, a
portion of Greene County was added to Oglethorpe, and the Oglethorpe/Greene county border
shifted several times in 1799. In 1811, Madison County was created, taking land from
Oglethorpe. In 1813, Oglethorpe acquired land from Clarke County. Taliaferro
County took land from Oglethorpe in 1831, and Oglethorpe received land from Madison County
in 1842.
The first permanent settlements in what is now Oglethorpe County were along the Broad
River ~ settled by a group of Virginia planters in the 1780s ~ and along Long Creek
near the town of Lexington. Lexington was incorporated in 1806 as the county seat.
Settlers grew mainly tobacco and cotton, and found deposits of granite, gold, iron,
copper and other minerals. |
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