History of Bleckley County

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Bleckley County was created by the State Legislature on July 30, 1912, and after ratification in a popular election held October 2 of that year, Pulaski County and Laurens County once contained the area that is currently known as Bleckley County. Bleckley County was the 145th county in Georgia.

This county was named for Justice Logan E. Bleckley of the Georgia Supreme Court. After serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Bleckley resumed his law practice, served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1875 to 1880 and was named Chief Justice in 1887, a position he held until 1894.

Cochran, the County Seat of Bleckley County, is named for Judge Arthur E. Cochran and was incorporated on March 19, 1869. Once known as Dykesboro, Cochran was settled by B.B. Dykes, who owned the site on which the town is built.

Judge Cochran was largely instrumental in developing this section of Georgia through his work as President of the Macon & Brunswick Railroad, now the Southern Railroad.