Summary History of Gwinnett County
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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.
 
Gwinnett County
  
       Gwinnett County was established on December 15, 1818 in an act of the Georgia Assembly that also established Hall and Habersham Counties.  Officially Gwinnett County is listed as Georgia’s 44th county (some say it was the 42nd), with an eastern boundary along the Appalachee River, and the Chattahoochee River on portions of the northern as well as the western boundary.  Within less than a week after the county was formed, the western part of Jackson County was added to it, taking this county’s eastern boundary up to incorporate Winder (now a part of Barrow County).  In 1914 when Barrow County was created, the eastern line went back to the Appalachee River.  On December 15, 1821 Lawrenceville, the county seat, was incorporated, and it is the second oldest city in the metro Atlanta area.
  
       Gwinnett County is named for Button Gwinnett who signed the Declaration of Independence, served in the state legislature around 1770, and in 1777 was appointed to fill the unfinished term of Archibald Bullock as the head of Georgia (at the time called President of the Council of Safety).  Gwinnett actually never lived in the area now called Gwinnett County.  He had come to Georgia from England through Charleston, South Carolina, ran a store in Savannah, and bought a tract of land that included St. Catherine’s island.  Having limited success at farming and raising cattle on that land, he subsequently had to sell it to pay off debts.  It was his contact with Lyman Hall (for which Hall County is named) that eventually led him into the fight for independence from England.  After becoming head of the state, Gwinnett proposed invading Florida and taking over St. Augustine to guarantee protection of Georgia’s southern boundary.  Gwinnett desperately wanted to command the revolutionary Army of the Second Florida expedition, but failed at raising this army and had to hand over the task to Lachlan McIntosh.  The two of them had a history of rocky dealings with one another, and they feuded over the best way to handle the army.  All of this culminated in a duel on May 16, 1777 where each was shot, and Gwinnett died three days later.
  
       Hundreds of years before white settlers came into the area, this region was part of the vast territory populated by Cherokee and Creek Indians.  In the area of what is now Gwinnett County, there was a strip of land a couple miles south of the Chattahoochee River serving as the dividing line between these two Indian Nations, with Cherokee to the north of that line and Creek to the south.  In this region, no one was allowed to cross the dividing line, for fear of an all-out war between the Nations.  That differed from the “open zone” farther west (near what is today Cobb County), where the area between the two Indian Nations was open to free passage, and was a convenient place for trade to be conducted.
  
       Early white settlements were around Hog Mountain, and between Hog Mountain and Jug Tavern (where Winder is now located).  Another settlement was at Suwanee Old Town, where earlier there had been Indian settlements (Shawnee, Cherokee, and Creek at different times) near the Chattahoochee, along Suwanee Creek.  Indians had been aiding the British, so at the beginning of the War of 1812 a fort (Fort Daniel) located near Hog Mountain was built to help protect these settlers along what at the time was considered a western frontier.  Of great significance to Atlantan’s today, in this period of 1813 future governor George Gilmer built a road from Fort Daniel to Standing Peachtree, which was the early forerunner of Peachtree Street/Peachtree Road!  This road was created by widening and improving a Creek Indian Trail which ran from Suwanee (actually it began even farther north, near Toccoa) to what is now Buckhead.  Here the trail divided, with one path heading to Standing Peachtree along a route close to today’s street called Paces Ferry Road, and the other path connecting at Five Points with the Sandtown Trail, in what today is downtown Atlanta.  Fort Peachtree was built within part of the Standing Peachtree settlement area, as another outpost during the War of 1812.  The road between these two forts, For Daniel and Fort Peachtree, became known as Peachtree Road.
  
       As an aside, some sources suggest that the Peach tree at Standing Peachtree may not have been a Peach tree at all!  There is some thought it could have been a large pine tree, and that the initial reference was actually to a Pine tree, or even “Pitch” tree.  Quite frankly, even if that signature tree was not peach, I’m very glad the name turned-out the way it did.  I don’t think Pitchtree Road would have had the same allure as Peachtree Road!  (Can’t you just imagine every July 4th holding the Pitch-tree Road Race … I don’t think so!)
  
       This is a county that was relatively untouched by the Civil War.  So once the Reconstruction period ended, growth in earnest began to take place.  During the years immediately after its founding in 1818, agriculture was a mainstay of the economy.  And although that continued, by the 1870’s Gwinnett County benefited greatly from railway expansion that took place in Georgia.  The Georgia Air Line Railroad initially ran from Charlotte to Atlanta, and had a stop in Suwanee as well as in several other towns in Gwinnett County.  Buford, named after a railroad president, was one of those towns that owes its existence to railway development.  And Norcross Georgia owes it birth to the railroad.  There had been a community at Pinckneyville (near what today is Peachtree Corners), but when the railroad came through the inhabitants moved approximately two miles to join others who had recently settled along the route of that all-important economic lifeline.  Norcross became the first major stop for travelers heading northeast out of Atlanta by rail.  And this community, with a higher elevation and slightly cooler climate, became somewhat of a resort town for Atlanta elites.  In 1878 the Airline Belle began making two round trips every day between Atlanta and Norcross.  The entire downtown area of Norcross is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.   (Note: Records concerning exact railroad names at specific dates in time are a bit difficult to nail-down accurately.  However the Georgia Air Line Railroad, or some name close to that, did go northward from Gainesville, and joined other rail lines such as the Richmond and Danville Railroad, which all merged in the 1890’s into the Southern Railway Company … which in 1980 became part of today’s Norfolk Southern Railway System.)
  
       With falling cotton prices in the late 1920’s, the Depression, and the plague of boll weevil, this county could have severely broken down economically, as was the case in various other Georgia counties.  But Gwinnett turned to dairy farming.  Although dairy cattle had been raised in this area for some time, the growth of Atlanta coupled with the downturn in the cotton industry dramatically spurred Gwinnett’s shift to dairy farming.  This county also moved into poultry farming as well, although not to the extent that was seen in Hall and also Cherokee Counties.
  
       As with some of its neighbors, Gwinnett County benefited greatly from Buford Dam and the opening of Lake Lanier in the latter part of the 1950’s.  Recreation and jobs brought an increased demand for services and housing.
  
       And as we moved into the latter decades of the 20th Century, Gwinnett became nationally (and internationally) known as a center of high-tech industry and development.  Since the 1970’s Gwinnett has often been cited as one of the fastest growing counties in America.  For a significant period of time the population nearly doubled each decade, going from just over 43,000 people in 1960 to nearly 600,000 in the year 2000 Census.  The county has been diligent in expanding its economic and civic infrastructures.  And for shoppers, the Mall of Georgia in Buford is the largest enclosed mall in the state.

     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:
   		757,104
 
588,448
 
28.7%
 
 
56,395
 
265,462
 
72.4%
 
202,317
 
2.88
 
432.73
 
1,359.0

 
     Resources for constructing this summary included:
  
The Buckhead, Inc website, Fort Peachtree Buckhead page:   http://www.buckhead.net/history/fort-peachtree/index.html

Roadside Georgia website, Archives of Gwinnett County page:   http://roadsidegeorgia.com/county/gwinnett.html

City of Suwanee Georgia website, City of Suwanee Historic Timeline page:   http://www.suwanee.com/aboutsuwanee.historictimeline.php

Carl Vinson Institute of Government website, Button Gwinnett page:   http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/gasigner.htm#Button_Gwinnett

Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau website, Historic Norcross page:   http://www.gcvb.org/static/index.cfm?contentID=42

The GAGenWeb Project website, Welcome To Gwinnett County Georgia page:   http://www.oldplaces.org/gwinnettga/

GwinnettMagazine.com website, Local Guide page:  http://www.gwinnettmagazine.com/local_guide/glance.htm

Our Georgia History website, Gwinnett County, Georgia page:   http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Gwinnett_County,_Georgia

The New Georgia Encyclopedia website, Gwinnett County page:   http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/CitiesCounties/Counties&id=h-2340

U.S. Census Bureau website, Gwinnett County, Georgia page:   http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/13135.html

  
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