The town of St. Marys was built on the north bank of the St. Marys River at Buttermilk Bluff. Its original tract of 1620 acres was purchased on Dec. 12, 1787 by proprietors laying out the Town of St. Marys for Jacob Weed for thirty eight dollars each. James Finley, County Surveyor, first laid out the city in August 1788, and it was recorded Jan. 5, 1789. The twenty proprietors were Isaac Wheeler, William Norris, Nathaniel Ashley, Lodowick Ashley, James Seagrove, James Finley, John Alexander, Langley Bryant, Jonathan Bartlett, Stephen Conyers, William Ready, Prentis Gallup, Simeon Dillingham, and Richard Cole. The city was laid out a second time as authorized by an act of Dec. 5, 1792, and a map of the town was drawn by Parker, Hopkins, and Meers and certified by James Parker, County Surveyor, Jan. 3, 1792. The town of St. Marys was incorporated by an act passed Nov. 26, 1802. St. Marys served as the temporary county seat until the first courthouse and gaol were erected at Jefferson, also called Jeffersonton, under an act passed Nov. 29, 1800. Jeffersonton was the permanent county seat for sixty-nine years, from 1801 to 1871. An election held Jan. 3, 1871, authorized by an act passed on Oct. 27, 1870, removed the county seat from Jeffersonton to St. Marys, which became the first permanent county seat for fifty-two years, from 1871 to 1923. An act of Aug. 11, 1923 authorized the removal of the county seat from St. Marys to Woodbine.