Butts County, Georgia

Butts County
Butts County
County
	Butts County Courthouse in Jackson
	Seal
	Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
	Georgia's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 33°17′N 83°58′W / 33.29°N 83.96°W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	1825; 200 years ago
Named for	Samuel Butts
Seat	Jackson
Largest city	Jackson
Area
• Total	188 sq mi (490 km2)
• Land	184 sq mi (480 km2)
• Water	3.6 sq mi (9 km2) 1.9%
Population (2020)
• Total	25,434
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	10th
Website	buttscountyga.com

Butts County is a county in the West Central region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,434,^[1] up from 23,655 in 2010.^[2] The county seat is Jackson.^[3] The county was created on December 24, 1825.

Butts County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell MSA. In 2010, the center of population of Georgia was located in the northeastern portion of the county.^[4]

History

Butts County was formed on December 24, 1825, as the sixty-fourth county in Georgia from portions of Henry County and Monroe County. It was named by the Georgia General Assembly in honor of Samuel Butts, an officer who was killed in the Creek War in 1814.^[5]^[6] A year later, Jackson was created as the first city in the new county and became the county seat. Other towns followed, including Indian Springs (1837); Flovilla (1883); Jenkinsburg (1889); and Pepperton (1897). Indian Springs later disincorporated and Pepperton was merged with Jackson in 1966, leaving just three incorporated cities in Butts County. In recent years, Indian Springs has again become a tourist destination including many historic sites, shops, eating establishment and the famous Indian Springs Hotel as its centerpiece.

Much of Butts County and its cities were destroyed by the army of General William T. Sherman in its March to the Sea during the American Civil War. Butts County struggled for decades afterwards to become economically stable again. The arrival of the first railroad train on May 5, 1882, started the resurgence and growth followed. In 1898, caught up in the post-reconstruction fervor that had infected most Georgia counties, Butts County erected a monumental courthouse designed by Bruce & Morgan. This building was used as a courthouse until 2019; following renovations, it is now a museum and visitor center. The construction of the Lloyd Shoals dam in 1910 created Jackson Lake, a recreational lake located primarily in Butts County.

Progress milestones in Butts County include the first telephones in 1884; first waterworks in 1905; electric lights on February 19, 1907; and traffic lights in 1926.

In 2007, Butts County, along with the city of Flovilla were both designated as Georgia Signature Communities by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. This prestigious designation was given to a total of 12 communities in Georgia that year.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 188 square miles (490 km²), of which 184 square miles (480 km²) is land and 3.6 square miles (9.3 km²) (1.9%) is water.^[7] The entirety of Butts County is located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin.^[8]

Major highways

Interstate 75
U.S. Route 23
State Route 16
State Route 36
State Route 42
State Route 87
State Route 401 (unsigned designation for I-75)

Adjacent counties

Newton County (north)
Jasper County (east)
Monroe County (south)
Lamar County (southwest)
Spalding County (west)
Henry County (northwest)

Communities

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1830	4,944		—
1840	5,308		7.4%
1850	6,488		22.2%
1860	6,455		−0.5%
1870	6,941		7.5%
1880	8,311		19.7%
1890	10,565		27.1%
1900	12,805		21.2%
1910	13,624		6.4%
1920	12,327		−9.5%
1930	9,345		−24.2%
1940	9,182		−1.7%
1950	9,079		−1.1%
1960	8,976		−1.1%
1970	10,560		17.6%
1980	13,665		29.4%
1990	15,326		12.2%
2000	19,522		27.4%
2010	23,655		21.2%
2020	25,434		7.5%
2023 (est.)	26,887	^[9]	5.7%
U.S. Decennial Census^[10] 1790-1880^[11]1890-1910^[12] 1920-1930^[13] 1930-1940^[14] 1940-1950^[15] 1960-1980^[16] 1980-2000^[17] 2010^[2] 2020^[1]

Butts County racial composition as of 2020^[18]
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	16,628	65.38%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	6,808	26.77%
Native American	39	0.15%
Asian	102	0.4%
Pacific Islander	9	0.04%
Other/Mixed	1,045	4.11%
Hispanic or Latino	803	3.16%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 25,434 people, 8,279 households, and 5,823 families residing in the county.

Media

Butts County has one radio station: WJGA FM 92.1 and one local newspaper, the Jackson Progress-Argus. The county has gained attention in recent years as being a frequent backdrop for a number of movies and television shows. Most recently, the Netflix series Stranger Things made the Butts County city of Jackson, Georgia the backdrop of the show's fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, turning the downtown area into a 1980s Indiana small town.^{[citation needed]} In addition to the many buildings of the downtown that are visible in various scenes, the exterior of the Butts County Courthouse is featured, standing in for the Hawkins library.^[19]

The fact that Butts County serves as the filming location for key events in the show has already led fans there after just two seasons. Other shows which have filmed in the area include The Originals, a television show, and a recent remake of Endless Love by Universal Studios. Beginning October 18, 2024, Butts County Sheriff's Office began being featured in the Reelz live television program "On Patrol: Live."^[20]

Government and infrastructure

County government

Butts County is governed by a Board of Commissioners composed of one commissioner from each of the county's five electoral districts. The commission members serve four year, staggered terms. The Board is presided over by the chairman, elected annually from the members of the commission to chair the meetings of the Board. The Board employs a County Administrator, Deputy County Administrator, County Clerk and nine department managers to oversee the daily affairs of the government.

There are four Constitutional Officers and three Elected Officials who are elected at-large by the voters of the county. The Constitutional Officers include the Sheriff; Tax Commissioner; Probate Judge and Clerk of the Superior Court. Elected officials include the Magistrate Judge; Coroner and County Surveyor. Other services are provided by departments headed by appointees of the Board of Commissioners.

In 2008, a movement began to create an elected, at-large chairman position to serve as presiding officer over the Board of Commissioners. This movement lost ground in 2009 and has not been revisited.

State representation

The Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison of the Georgia Department of Corrections is a maximum security prison in unincorporated Butts County. It is home to Georgia's death row for men and Georgia's execution facility.^[21] The prison is also home to maximum security general population (non-death row).

Politics

United States presidential election results for Butts County, Georgia^[22]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	9,424	72.39%	3,544	27.22%	51	0.39%
2020	8,406	71.38%	3,274	27.80%	96	0.82%
2016	6,717	70.60%	2,566	26.97%	231	2.43%
2012	6,306	67.09%	2,968	31.57%	126	1.34%
2008	5,947	65.32%	3,065	33.67%	92	1.01%
2004	5,119	66.12%	2,572	33.22%	51	0.66%
2000	3,198	56.75%	2,281	40.48%	156	2.77%
1996	2,027	42.61%	2,271	47.74%	459	9.65%
1992	1,768	36.45%	2,448	50.46%	635	13.09%
1988	2,184	55.66%	1,730	44.09%	10	0.25%
1984	2,141	54.05%	1,820	45.95%	0	0.00%
1980	1,210	31.47%	2,574	66.94%	61	1.59%
1976	819	22.03%	2,898	77.97%	0	0.00%
1972	1,968	73.02%	727	26.98%	0	0.00%
1968	584	19.25%	959	31.62%	1,490	49.13%
1964	1,261	45.12%	1,534	54.88%	0	0.00%
1960	382	18.59%	1,673	81.41%	0	0.00%
1956	323	14.63%	1,885	85.37%	0	0.00%
1952	189	9.00%	1,910	91.00%	0	0.00%
1948	61	5.22%	987	84.50%	120	10.27%
1944	85	6.01%	1,330	93.99%	0	0.00%
1940	87	7.90%	1,012	91.92%	2	0.18%
1936	28	3.28%	820	96.13%	5	0.59%
1932	21	1.22%	1,693	98.14%	11	0.64%
1928	148	14.89%	846	85.11%	0	0.00%
1924	50	8.61%	493	84.85%	38	6.54%
1920	141	21.93%	502	78.07%	0	0.00%
1916	27	4.01%	595	88.28%	52	7.72%
1912	46	8.17%	490	87.03%	27	4.80%