As a result of the natural and commercial advantages of this immediate section, Crisp County was formed from the southern territory of Dooly County in 1905. The splendid location, rich soil, railroad facilities, progressive people, manufacturing interests, etc., demanded a distinct county government.

Dooly County was created by an act of -the legislature May 15, 1821, from lands acquired from the Creek Indians under the first treaty of Indian Springs, in the same year. It was named for Col. John Dooly, who was murdered by the Tories in 1780. Vienna was made the county seat.

Cordele, in the southern part of Dooly, was chartered in 1888, with a population of 300. In twelve years time her population was about twenty times as great. With such a rapid growth the people of Cordele and southern Dooly began to realize the necessity of establishing a new county with Cordele for its county seat. In the year 1905 a general committee, with headquarters at Cordele, was selected to draw up a bill providing for the creation of a new county, and put it before the next legislature. This committee consisted of the following men: W. C. Hamilton, S. W. Coney, B. P. O'Neil, C. C. Greer, M. T. Lanier, R. C. Harris, J. J. Wheeler, J. S. Pate, C. C. Cutts, J. A. Ward, J. W. Bivins, G. M. Bulloch, S. C. Weisiger, W. E. Edwards, S. A. Royal, M. J. Mikel, Mark Rainey, T. E. Gleaton, Z. Hardin, James Ray, J. R. Pelder, Willis Johnson, T. S. Roberts.

On August 19,1905, Governor Terrell signed the bill making the southern part of Dooly a new county, to be called Crisp, in honor of the late Charles F. Crisp. Said county was organized November 22, 1905. Crisp County court house and jail were built in 1906-7-8, at a cost of $80,000. Her first term of court met December, 1905, with Judge Z. A. Littlejohn presiding.The first Grand Jury impanelled was composed of the following men: A. Wells, B. B. Pound, J. T. Musselwhite, S. C. Weisiger, J. R. Williams, J. O. McKinney, H. W. Wheeler, W. H. Williams, C. C. Cutts, J. W. Cannon, J. 0. James, J. M. Cox, J. C. Tracy, J. J. Wheeler, E. C Youngblood, W. F. Markert, W. R. Harris, T. J. Bennett, J. B. Adkins, W. L. Robuck, G. L. Dckle, J. R. McKinney, J. S. Pate.

Her first county officers were: S. W. Coney, Ordinary; J. A. Littlejohn, Clerk; G. W. Sheppard, Sheriff; J. M. Davis, Tax Receiver; John C. Fenn, Tax Collector; B. N. Williams, Treasurer.

The contracting parties whose names appear in the first marriage license issued in Crisp were Miss Mamie Elder and Mr. Charles Killen.

Crisp County contains an area of 277 square miles, and now has a population of about 18,750, and the taxable property approximates $8,000,000. It is rich in fertile lands, pregnant with work well done, progressively liberal in all things, and, with a catholicity of action that begets the greatest good for the greatest number. All the land is good, and any crop known to the farmer can be grown here.

Crisp and Cordele are so closely representative of what each has to offer, that to speak of one is but to sound the praise of the other, the combined paean heralding a note that rarely has been touched in the building of any county or city.


The Crisp County Public School System is one of the very best in the state.  Under the able supervision of Mr. J. W. Bivins, of Cordele, the first and only county school superintendent the county has had, the teachers are paid good salaries and paid promptly. There has never been a time since the creation of the county that any teacher has had to wait a day for his or her salary, for this superintendent is never without funds sufficient to run his force. The "County Unit" system of taxation up to Cordele, supplements the state's money, together building good strong schools.   Mr. Bivins has been instrumental in getting the school session lengthened from five to seven months, with the privilege of nine months session. The schools are conducted along the most advanced lines, and the buildings and equipment are adequate.