The land west of the Oconee River was organized as Baldwin andWilkinson Counties. TheTreaty of Washington with the Creek in 1805 extended the state's western boundary to theOcmulgee River. A legislative act on June 26, 1806, added some of this additional land to both counties.
The state legislature subsequently passed an act on December 10, 1807, that created four new counties from Baldwin County's 1806 borders. It expanded Baldwin to the east with land fromHancock andWashington Counties. The new counties wereMorgan,Jones,Putnam, and present-dayJasper (originally named Randolph County at the time of the act).
The county is named forAbraham Baldwin, a signer of theUnited States Constitution,U.S. congressman representing Georgia, and the founder of theUniversity of Georgia.[3] White settlers moved into the area and developed large cottonplantations, made possible by the labor ofslaves. Since the invention of the cotton gin, short-staple cotton could be profitably processed, and it was well-suited to the uplands of Georgia. What became known as the Black Belt of Georgia, an arc of fertile soil, was one of the destinations for slaves being sold from the Upper South, as well as from the Low Country.
The county seat of Milledgeville, formerly the state capital of Georgia (1804–1868), is one of only 3 planned capital cities in the United States along withWashington, D.C. andIndianapolis, IN.
Because of its central location within the state and its abundant supply of water from the Oconee River, Milledgeville grew rapidly into a bustling frontier town. On November 2, 1807, the state legislature held its first session in the newly completed statehouse in Milledgeville. Georgia's first state penitentiary was also built within the historic city limits of Milledgeville in 1817. This site is now used as the main campus ofGeorgia College and State University. In 1837, the General Assembly provided for the establishment of the state's first mental asylum, today known asCentral State Hospital.
When the state of Georgia seceded from the Union in January 1861, during a legislative session held in Milledgeville, Baldwin County became a target for Union forces. When Union generalWilliam T. Sherman made his devastatingMarch to the Sea through Georgia, his troops occupied the capital city in November 1864. Sherman and his Union armies burned the state penitentiary, vandalized the city, and held a mock session of the legislature in the statehouse to repeal the state's ordinance of secession.
In 1868, after the Civil War (1861–65), Georgia's capital was moved from Milledgeville to its present location in Atlanta. Today, Milledgeville is home to two institutions of higher education: Georgia College and State University andGeorgia Military College. Founded in 1889 as the Georgia Normal and Industrial College for Women, Georgia College and State University has since grown to become the state's premier public liberal-arts university. Georgia Military College, founded in 1879, now occupies the Old Capitol Building.
In addition to the Old Capitol and Governor's Mansion, visitors to Baldwin County can explore Andalusia, the family farm of writerFlannery O'Connor; Milledgeville's historic district; and the Lockerly Arboretum, a botanical garden and nature education center that hosts the Lockerly Heritage Festival each September.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 267 square miles (690 km2), of which 9.6 square miles (25 km2) (3.6%) is covered by water.[4]
The county is located along thefall line of the Eastern United States. The city of Milledgeville, which is located along the Oconee River, is an important city in the region. Because of its location, the northern part of the county tends to be more hilly due to its location in thePiedmont than the southern part of the county, which is in the far northern part of theAtlantic coastal plain.
Most of Baldwin County, south ofLake Sinclair, is located in the Lower Oconee River sub-basin of theAltamaha River basin. The northern portion of the county is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin.[5]
As of the2020 census, 43,799 people, 16,511 households, and 9,568 families lived in the county. Of the residents, 18.4% were under the age of 18 and 17.3% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 38.4 years. For every 100 females there were 96.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.2 males. 51.2% of residents lived in urban areas and 48.8% lived in rural areas.[17][18][19]
There were 16,511 households in the county, of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 36.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[18]
There were 19,988 housing units, of which 17.4% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 57.9% were owner-occupied and 42.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 14.5%.[18]
Members of the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners are responsible for administering the government to residents. Five members serve on the board, elected fromsingle-member districts. Commissioners served 4 year terms up until 2024 when legislation allowed for staggered elections. The 2024 Election will be the last in which all commissioners are up for election simultaneously. Now, Districts 1-2 will share the ballot every 4 years beginning in 2028, and commissioners elected in 2024 to represent districts 3, 4 and 5 will serve a 2-year term, to end in 2026, and thereafter terms will be 4 years. The members of the board elect the chair from amongst themselves.[20]
Baldwin County has been a highly competitive swing county in recent presidential elections, with no candidate receiving more than 52.9% of the vote in any election from 1992 onward. The county was the only one in Georgia that failed to give a majority to either major-party candidate inthe 2018 gubernatorial election, with DemocratStacey Abrams winning the county by only 58 votes overRepublicanBrian Kemp.[22] Baldwin County, along with neighboringWashington County, was one of 2 counties that gave a plurality of votes toHerschel Walker in the first round of the2022 Senate election but then gave a majority of votes toRaphael Warnock in the subsequent run-off.[23]
As recently as 2018, Democrats held all county constitutional offices with the exception of Surveyor (R). Since then, the Sheriff, Superior Court Clerk and Tax Commissioner have registered as Independents, and a Republican now serves as Solicitor General. Democrats still hold the Coroner's Office and Chief Magistrate.[24]
