Milton County, Georgia



Milton County was a of the  of  from 1857 to 1931. It was created on  from parts of northeastern, southeastern , and southwestern  counties. was the until the end of 1931, when Milton was d with  to save it from bankruptcy during the. At that time,, which had already gone bankrupt, was also ceded to Fulton, giving it its 70- (110 ) long irregular shape along the.

Following the 1932 merger, the Cobb County town of was also ceded to Fulton four months later on. The cession of Roswell (including everything east of ) made the new county more contiguous, though a very narrow strip (through what is now the, ceded to Milton from ) actually already connected the two sections.

Re-creation proposals

 * See for more in depth information

In recent years, some residents of north Fulton County have sought to recreate Milton County. The proposed plan would include Alpharetta,, , & in a new Milton County. Proponents of the plan complain of a disproportionate distribution of Fulton County's services between unincorporated Fulton County's lower-income south and higher-income north. Yet, some controversy exists as opponents criticize the recreation proposal, claiming that the plan is racially motivated.

A before the  in 2005 that proposed the inclusion of  would rename the remainder of Fulton County as "Atlanta County". The, however, now prohibits any more than 159 counties, the number it has had since the merger in 1932. Any change would require a, supported by two-thirds of each house in the General Assembly, and by over half of all voters statewide in a. On, Jan Jones, who represents the house district that includes Roswell, and representatives of adjacent districts introduced HR 12. Without mentioning Milton County by name, HR 12 proposes to amend the state constitution to allow the legislature to recreate merged counties regardless of the 159-county limit, if such an action is ratified by people in the areas of the proposed recreated county. This amendment would disallow voters in the remaining parts of Fulton County from voting on the issue. 

Another possibility would be a merger of two or more of Georgia's other smaller rural counties into somewhat larger ones, thereby reducing the number of counties in the state. This is reasonable since many if not most of Georgia's counties are considerably smaller and less populous than those in most states.

However, these methods may be irrelevant, because the study concluded that a new Milton County would not initially be cost-effective, and instead supported of the two remaining areas. These are (north),  (east) as well as. This was decided by voters in Milton & Johns Creek in the  election. The two officially became cities under Georgia constitutional law on.

Geography
The map at right depicts the original Milton County in 1883, with ( from lower right) to the southeast,  to the northeast,  to the northwest,  to the southwest, and  (Hammond, now Sandy Springs) and  ( and ) to the south. Note that the northern edge of DeKalb County also now no longer touches the river, as it did then.