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Summary History of Paulding County
Links to the Counties of:
Barrow Bartow Cherokee Cobb Dawson DeKalb Douglas Forsyth Fulton Gwinnett Hall
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.
Paulding County
Originally this area was part of the very large “early” version of Cherokee County. But on December 3, 1832 Paulding County was formed as the 87th county in Georgia, along with nine other Georgia counties being created at that time. This county was named after a Revolutionary War soldier John Paulding, who helped capture British spy John Andre which led to the exposure of Benedict Arnold’s plot to overthrow the nation. John Paulding received a medal for this from General George Washington, and the city of New York created a monument to Paulding over Benedict Arnold’s grave.
Van Wert, named in honor of another of the captors of Major Andre, became the first county seat. When Polk County was created in 1851 (from a western portion of Paulding County plus some of Floyd County), the county seat was moved to Dallas, Georgia. Dallas was named for George Mifflin Dallas, Vice President under James K. Polk. Dallas was founded on land deeded from Garrett Spinks.
At its founding, Paulding County was considered a very remote area in North Georgia. There was only one primary transportation route through the county, which was an east-west trail going from just south of Kennesaw to Alabama, passing close to what is today the city of Dallas. In years prior to the creation of the county, Creek Indians had occupied the southern portion of what became Paulding County, with Cherokee Indians in the northern portion. In 1825 Chief William McIntosh signed The Treaty of Indian Springs, removing Creek Indians from the area. In 1838 the Cherokee Indians were moved west to Oklahoma in the infamous Trail Of Tears.
In the lotteries of 1832, most of the lottery for Paulding County involved the 160-acre per lot Land Lottery. Only a small portion of the northeast corner of the county was involved in the 40-acre per lot Gold Lottery (lots where gold could be present were thought to be more valuable than non-gold lots, and thus they were only 40 acres in size).
Agriculture was the early foundation for the economy of this county. Along with that there were grist mills, saw mills, and other similar supporting facets of commerce. By Civil War time the county seat, Dallas, had a cotton mill, cotton gins, a brick yard, and a potash works. Dallas was coming to rely on cotton as a centerpiece of its economy. Although various railroads were being constructed in Georgia, by the end of the 1870’s the only railway stop in Paulding County was in Dallas (on the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad). And by the end of that decade Dallas had tripled in size, in large part due to its access to the railroad.
During the Civil War there were at least four occasions when large concentrations of Union and Confederate troops met. In one instance General Sherman, to avoid the conflict at Allatoona Pass, moved to outflank General Joseph Johnston by moving to Johnston’s left, which took the Union troops into the thick underbrush of northern Paulding County. Johnston, realizing Sherman’s plans, moved to block him. (Note: General Sherman especially liked the fact that Dallas provided quite good roadways for the time, leading in various key directions.) There ensued a series of three battles in May 1864. New Hope Church, Dallas, and Picket’s Mill were all distinct battles fought within what is sometimes referred to in general as “The Dallas Line” or called by some “Hell Hole.” In the Autumn of 1864 General Hood, who had replaced General Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee, moved Confederate troops through Paulding County again on the way to attacking Union forces in Tennessee. Union troop followed him through Paulding County. Hood’s invasion of Tennessee suffered decisive defeats, and by the spring of 1865 there was a strong, commanding presence of Union troops in Paulding County.
Politically speaking, Paulding County was noteworthy in the early 1900’s as being one of the only counties in Georgia to vote Republican. But in the late 1800’s there was a different political presence at play. A movement known as the Farmer’s Alliance had sprung up in the south, to bring more power vs. merchants. This movement gained popularity in Paulding County at that time, and in 1892 a People’s Party convention was held in the county, with William Ragsdale serving as chairman.
The county has undergone several changes in shape and size. As noted above, in 1851 western portions of the county were taken to create Polk County. Between 1832 and 1874 portions of Paulding County were annexed to the counties of Bartow, Campbell, Carroll, Cobb, Douglas, and Haralson, as well as Polk County. And between 1850 and 1874 portions of Carroll, Cobb, Douglas, and Polk Counties were annexed to Paulding Counties.
In 1892 a new courthouse for Paulding County was built in Dallas, at a cost of $18,337. That historic building still stands today, and serves as a centerpiece for a downtown area that captures a sense of hometown America from years gone by.
In 1903 the cotton crop for Paulding County brought in 10,623 bales. Paulding continued to have agriculture of various types as a mainstay for its economy, and then as time went along it evolved into a significant “bedroom community” for Cobb County and even for the city of Atlanta.
From The U.S. Census Bureau
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:
81,678
48.9%
58,801
43,769
86.8%
28,089
2.89
313.43
261.0
Resources for constructing this summary included:
Paulding County “friend of
Historical Society” website, Paulding History page:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~gapauldi/history.htm
Roadside Georgia website, the Archives of Paulding County page: http://roadsidegeorgia.com/county/paulding.html
Paulding.com website, a page on Paulding History: http://www.paulding.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=118984
The Paulding County Historical Society and Museum website, Interesting Facts About Paulding County page: http://www.pchsm.org/Interesting%20Facts.htm
U.S. Census Bureau website, Paulding County, Georgia page: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/13223.html
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