Summary History of Fulton County Georgia

Summary History of Fulton County Links to the Counties of: Barrow Bartow Cherokee Cobb Dawson DeKalb Douglas Forsyth Gwinnett Hall Paulding Or link to Atlanta
Note: I am not a historian, but I have great interest in these areas where I sell homes. The following information is culled from a variety of sources. Although I can not guarantee accuracy within those sources, I took care to write the following with as much accuracy as I could achieve. Fulton County
Through an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 20, 1853, Fulton County was created. Some records indicate it was the 144^th county, while other records state it was the 150^th county. (This may be due to the series of county creations and deletions which occurred after 1853. – More about that later in this essay.) Either way, it was originally created by taking over the western half of what had been DeKalb County. There are also two different “stories” regarding how this county was named. The one originally regarded as “official” says the city is named after inventor Robert Fulton, who showed the value of steam for transportation by sailing a steam powered boat (the Clermont) on the Hudson River. This of course fits nicely with the importance of steam power and trains, leading to the birth of Atlanta and the development of Fulton County. More recent thinking holds that the county was given this name to honor Hamilton Fulton’s work. He had been Chief Engineer for the state, and surveyed the railway route for the important Western and Atlantic Railroad which gave birth to Atlanta. Hamilton Fulton is also credited with convincing state officials that rather than build a canal from Milledgeville (then the state capitol) to Ross’s Landing on the Tennessee River (now the site of Chattanooga), they should instead build a railroad, and this ultimately led to the Western and Atlantic line. As with most Georgia areas, the first inhabitants in this county were Indians. The various tribes that taken together were called Creeks had been in periodic battle with Cherokee Indians. After a decisive conflict around Ball Ground, Georgia (in Cherokee County) a line was drawn having the Cherokee Nation north of the Chattahoochee River and the various Creek tribes south of the river, with some “open zones” in-between for trading. This meant that the original area of Fulton County (we’ll discuss “North Fulton” later) was situated in what had been Creek Indian territory. The Creek Indians had a trail that ran from north of what today is Suwanee, Georgia all the way southwest to a settlement called Standing Peachtree, which ran along the Chattahoochee River near its juncture with Peachtree Creek. Due to what was happening with regard to both the War of 1812 and the Creek Civil War of 1813-1814 (also called the Red Stick War), it was determined that forts should be built to protect white settlements and traders along this “western edge” of the frontier. Fort Daniel was built at Hog Mountain (east of Suwanee), & Fort Peachtree was built on grounds that were part of the original Standing Peachtree settlement (located at one side of what today is called Buckhead). … Also, they built a road connecting these forts, which they called Peachtree Road (and yes, this was an early version of what we now also call Peachtree Road!). This road was primarily developed by widening and improving the Creek Indian trail that ran past Suwanee to Standing Peachtree. As a side note of interest, and perhaps humor: Some believe that instead of an actual Peach tree, the large tree “anchoring” the area Indians called Standing Peachtree was actually a Pine tree … and the actual name might have been Pinetree, or, Pitch-tree. I’m awfully glad that even though the first Anglos into the area may have misunderstood the name, it became Peachtree Road instead of Pitchtree Road. (Somehow, the idea of a July 4^th Pitch-tree Road Race does not sound as nice as the Peachtree Road Race!) Atlanta, and along with it Fulton County, grew rapidly. And certainly a major reason for this was the railroad. Decatur, Georgia (in DeKalb County) had been given the opportunity to be the end point (the terminus) of a new railroad to be built from Chattanooga, Tennessee into this area of Georgia. The people of Decatur declined the offer because they didn’t want “the noise, smoke, and confusion”* that would come from having this rail line come to them. SO, the Western and Atlantic Railroad company looked to a location about seven miles to the west, in an area sparsely populated which in 1835 had been labeled by the Federal Government Post Office as Whitehall. Steven Long drove a stake in the ground on the property of Hardy Ivy (near where Underground Atlanta is today), and identified this as mile zero for the railroad soon to be built. In 1837 Colonel Abbott Brisbane, as Chief Engineer of the W&A Railroad, named this area Terminus. --- Terminus was a “working title” for the area, although never official. On December 23, 1842 this tiny community was incorporated as Marthasville, apparently to honor the former governor William Lumpkin by naming the village after his daughter Martha. A few years later the name was changed to Atlanta, as a feminized variation on the word Atlantic, forever linking the name of the city to the name of the railroad that was about to put Atlanta “on the map.” Even though the state capitol of Georgia was Milledgeville, Atlanta became immensely important as other railway lines joined with & intersected the W&A, making this community a vitally important transportation and commercial hub. But this also meant that once the Civil War began, Atlanta became a primary target of the North. The passage of men and materials through this important center provided a strategic target far more critical than the state capitol. This is why Andrew’s Raiders early in the war tried to disrupt the rail and telegraph line north of Atlanta along the Western and Atlantic Railroad. And why Sherman focused full attention on seizing and then totally destroying Atlanta, along with tearing up the rails that were a lifeblood to the city, and a lifeblood to Confederate operations. After initial engagements in the Battle of Atlanta (most of which were actually fought in DeKalb County to the east of the city), and the Battle of Peachtree Creek near the Chattahoochee River, General Sherman was content to put the city under bombardment for about six weeks, conducting periodic raids into the city as well. After several attempts by Confederate forces to break the Union lines had failed, and knowing they were badly outnumbered, a retreat from the city was ordered. At the first of September 1864 Confederate General Hood pulled his forces out of Atlanta, blowing up supply depots and railway equipment as he left in order to keep that from falling into the hands of Union forces. On September 2 the city officially surrendered to the Union Army. It is said that Sherman sent a telegram to Washington saying, “Atlanta is ours, and fairly won.” Sherman established his headquarters in Atlanta on September 7, and remained there for two months. In November he moved on with his march to the sea. Before leaving he ordered an evacuation of the city’s entire population, ordered the city burned to the ground, and departed eastward making sure to destroy any remaining rail lines such as those of the Georgia Railroad in DeKalb County. (Note: I’ve written much more about Sherman’s approach to Atlanta, and attack on the city in my summary of Atlanta history.) This was not only a major event within the Civil War itself. This had a major impact on the presidential election of that year. The Democratic Party candidate, George B. McClelland, ran on what today we might call a peace-now platform. The Party was in favor of talks with the Confederacy, perhaps finding a way to have a treaty instead of continuing to fight and try to gain a victory. Earlier in 1864, with war weariness and no certainty of Union success, the ability for the Republican Lincoln to beat the Democrat McClellan was in real doubt. But with the victories gained through the Battle of Atlanta and elsewhere, Lincoln won the November 1864 election in a landslide. Of interest, even the soldiers involved in all of these terrible battles, gave Lincoln over seventy percent of their vote. (Note: you will see references to the Republican Party also being termed the Union Party during this period. After 1864 it was back to just the Republican Party.) After the war, the areas around Atlanta regained their footing relatively quickly (all things considered!). Homes and businesses needed to be rebuilt. And the railroad lines needed to be rebuilt, too. A County like DeKalb, with it quarries, rebounded more rapidly than many other parts of Georgia because the stone products from those quarries were needed for the rebuilding going on in Fulton. Atlanta was on the road to recovery faster than many other communities, and in 1868 it became the new capitol of Georgia. As the County moved toward the turn of the century and then beyond, progress came even more quickly, both for some individuals as well as for the community at large. For example, in the late 1880’s Asa Griggs Candler found a new soft drink product that could rival root beer and ginger ale as a soda fountain favorite. He purchased the recipe from the developer (Dr. Pemberton) and his associates for $2,300, and through the marketing genius of Mr. Candler built Coca-Cola into an international giant. Mr. Candler went on to contribute to Atlanta and Fulton County in many ways, including one item that proved to be exceptionally important to the area, even though it didn’t succeed as envisioned. Mr. Candler bought hundreds of acres of land in the southern side of Fulton County to build an auto race track. This was very forward-thinking, in light of the fact that the year was 1909. The race track did not prosper, but the purchase of this land was key. In 1926 this land (Candler Field) was turned into one of America’s early air fields. Mail service by air began in September 1926. After initial problems, it began again in May 1928. Passenger service began in October 1930. Key people, and key decisions, in the following years propelled Atlanta & Fulton County into the center of transportation, commerce, and communication in the Southeast, as well as social justice in the United States. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is built on the site of Candler Field, of course with property added to that original land. And people like Ted Turner (TBS, CNN, & much more), plus Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank (Home Depot) are nationally known figures who continue to bring attention to the enormous energy and ingenuity that is found here. And the King Center just to the east of downtown Atlanta stands as a lasting tribute to one of America’s most significant people. Before concluding this essay it must be noted that while Fulton County and the city of Atlanta successfully grew out of the ashes of the Civil War, some of its neighbor counties and communities did not fair as well. Communities such as Crabapple, in what was originally Milton County north of Fulton (which later became North Fulton), had been in existence longer than any other town in that area. But there were no major rail lines coming past that community, and agriculture was the only real foundation for economic survival. Roswell, another town in that general area, was also dependent upon the cotton crop, because the rebuilt Roswell Mill was the only significant industry in the town. These areas, immediately north of Fulton County, had been heavily occupied by Union forces, and suffered real losses. For example, 400 female workers in the Roswell Mill were taken as prisoner by Union soldiers and sent to Indiana. This region north of Fulton did the best that could be expected in order to recover and grow. But at the time when the Great Depression hit, the region was also afflicted by falling cotton prices plus the boll weevil. Milton County, just above the northern tip of Fulton County, fell into severe economic hardship and was about to go bankrupt. Campbell County, off the southwest side of Fulton had already gone bankrupt. To save money by not duplicating government functions, while also trying to address the bankrupt conditions of these two counties, Milton and Campbell were dissolved as an independent entity and brought into the more financially solvent Fulton County. On January 1, 1932 this tripled the size of Fulton County, and the full integration of these different areas was completed by May 9^th. This one paragraph will help identify what was included in the two counties taken-in by Fulton, and will clarify why other counties also had to contribute some of their land. – Just above the small northern tip of Fulton County was Milton County, created in 1847 out of land from Cherokee, Cobb, and Forsyth Counties, with its county seat in Alpharetta. And off the southwest side of Fulton County was Campbell County, created in 1828 by taking lands from what at the time were Carroll, Coweta, DeKalb, and Fayette Counties. With the addition of Milton County the following also had to be done. … Other land around the northern end of Fulton County had to be annexed, in order to provide a wide-enough band of land to form a decent connection between Fulton and Milton. This extra land came from Cobb, Gwinnett, and DeKalb Counties. That is how Roswell was moved from originally being in Cobb County to now being in Fulton County. -- What was called “The Roswell Militia District” which included the city of Roswell was transferred to Fulton in May 1932 as part of what was needed to give open access to the northern part of this newly enlarged Fulton County. Fulton County is now approximately seventy miles long, with a shape that many people find illogical … but now you know there was a reason; namely, financial survival during the period of the Depression and the devastation of the boll weevil. Because the county is so long (almost one and a half times as long as the state of Rhode Island), it is fairly common to refer to its different parts as North Fulton and South Fulton. Major businesses in the area today include, of course, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, CNN, Turner Broadcasting System, and Delta Airlines. Others include Georgia Pacific, UPS, The Weather Channel, ICE (the InterContinentalExchange), and a host of service firms. From The U.S. Census Bureau
ESTIMATED 2006 Population: 2000 Population: Population change (April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006): Median Household Income 2004: Housing Units 2005: Home Ownership Rate 2000: Households 2000: Persons per Household 2000: 2000 Land Area (sq miles): 2000 Persons per Sq Mile:	960,009 816,006 17.7% 45,819 405,173 52.0% 321,242 2.44 528.66 1,542.5
Resources for constructing this summary included: Roadside Georgia website, Archives of Fulton County page: http://roadsidegeorgia.com/county/fulton.html Fulton County GAGenWeb website, Brief Introduction to the History of Fulton County page: http://www.rootsweb.com/~gafulto2/ *Georgia.gov website, DeKalb County page: http://dekalbcounty.georgia.gov/05/article/0,2680,8306723_7355477_11804331,00.html Genealogy Inc website, Fulton County History and Information page: http://www.mygeorgiagenealogy.com/ga_county/fu.htm Wikipedia website, Battle of Atlanta page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Atlanta Wikipedia website, Creek War page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creek_War Wikipedia website, Fulton County, Georgia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_County,_Georgia Wikipedia website, Milton County, Georgia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_County,_Georgia 50states.com website, Rhode Island Facts and Trivia page: http://www.50states.com/facts/rdisl.htm Our Georgia History website, Fulton County, Georgia page: http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Fulton_County,_Georgia South Fulton Chamber of Commerce website, About South Fulton page: http://www.sfcoc.org/about/history.asp The New Georgia Encyclopedia website, Fulton County page: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2335 Georgia.gov website, Fulton County page: http://fultoncounty.georgia.gov/03/home/0,2230,8307511,00.html Georgia Department of Community Affairs website, Fulton County Community Profile page: http://www.dca.state.ga.us/CountySnapshotsNet/countysnapshot.aspx?cicoid=1060060 About North Georgia website, Origin of the name Atlanta page: http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Origin_of_the_name_Atlanta About North Georgia website, Air mail and Candler Field page: http://ngeorgia.com/feature/airmail.html Carl Vinson Institute of Government website, Fulton County page: http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/histcountymaps/fultonhistmaps.htm U.S. Census Bureau website, Fulton County, Georgia page: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/13121.html Web Site Design, Photos, Videos, and All Original Content in this website © 2007 Copyright by Ronald Dowell