Jenkins County was organized from territory cut from Burke, Screven, Bulloch, and Emanuel counties in 1905 and officially began functioning as a new political unit on Jan. 1, 1906. Its first court house was completed in March 1908 and burned on Jan. 5, 1910. The present structure, essentially identical to the first, was rebuilt within the following two years. Designed by Lewis F. Goodrick of Augusta, the building's extravagant Italian Renaissance lines reflect something of the boundless optimism and pride of achievement of the county's early citizens.