History of Newnan, Georgia

In the early 1800’s, the western part of Georgia was still Indian territory. The Creek Indians, named by the Scotch-Irish settlers because of the area’s numerous small creeks, inhabited the area from the Ocmulgee River to the Chattahoochee River and were led by a chief named General William McIntosh.

During the 1820’s, the Creeks ceded their land to the State of Georgia and five counties, including Coweta, were formed. Coweta County, named for the Cowetas or Lower Creek Indians, was officially created by Legislative Acts of June 9, 1825 and December 11, 1836. Bullsboro was the first county seat for the area, but the City of Newnan, the current county seat of government, was incorporated in 1828. Newnan is named for North Carolina Native, General Daniel Newnan, who was a soldier and later became Georgia Secretary of State and a United States Congressman.

Once Newnan was established as a town, lawyers, doctors, and merchants began conducting business in the new town. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with a nine-block central business district, the center of which was the courthouse. The streets were named for famous Americans such as Jackson, Jefferson, Washington, and Madison.

Due in part to the success of the cotton industry, Newnan prospered at the turn of the century. Newnan’s leading citizens then invested in the railroad during the mid 1800s, which continued to bring economic prosperity to the town and to establish Newnan as one of the wealthiest towns per capita in the United States. The passenger railroad line to Newnan was opened in 1851. Established as a sawmill in 1854, the R.D. Cole Manufacturing Company won major construction contracts and was the contractor for a majority of the homes built in Newnan from the 1880’s until after the turn of the century. In the 1890s, the water works was built and Newnan installed electric street lamps. During this time, brick buildings replaced the last wood framed structures on the square.

The Civil War came closest to Newnan in July 1864, when the Battle of Brown’s Mill occurred three miles south of town, resulting in the defeat of Federal forces under the command of General E.M. McCook by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler.

College Temple, the first college to offer a Master of Arts degree to women, was used in the War Between the States as a hospital for wounded Confederate and Union troops, as were the courthouse and local churches. Newnan was spared some of the ravages of the Civil War, and many historic homes, including General Wheeler’s headquarters, still line the streets of Newnan, known today as the “City of Homes”. (Others also submit that the town earned the nickname the “City of Homes” because as one of the wealthiest towns in the United States, the city had more home ownership than other places.)

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Newnan was established as county seat of Coweta County (replacing the defunct town of Bullsboro) in 1828 and was named for North Carolinian General Daniel Newnan. Newnan quickly became a prosperous magnet for lawyers, doctors, other professionals and merchants. Much of Newnan's prosperity was due to the thriving cotton industry, which relied on slavery. Newnan was largely untouched by the American Civil War due to its status as a hospital city (for Confederate troops), and as a result still features much antebellum architecture. Celebrated architect Kennon Perry designed many of the town's 20th Century homes. During the Atlanta Campaign, Confederate cavalry badly defeated Union forces at the nearby Battle of Brown's Mill.

Newnan was host to the trial in 1948 of wealthy landowner John Wallace, the first white man in the south to be condemned to death by the testimony of African Americans, two field hands who were made to help with burning the body of murdered white sharecropper Wilson Turner. These events were portrayed in the novel Murder in Coweta County. The film version starred Johnny Cash, Andy Griffith, and June Carter.

The Newnan/Sharspburg area is home to three high schools, Newnan High School (founded in 1887), East Coweta High School (founded in 1946), and Northgate High School (founded in 1996). Newnan is also home to The Heritage School, a small private school. Newnan is served by the Coweta County School System.

The city is home to one of the few Georgia counties with a museum that focuses mainly on African American history. The Coweta County African American Heritage Museum and Research Center, or Caswell House, was opened in July 2003 in a donated mill village house once owned by Ruby Caswell. The museum sits on Farmer St. on an old, unmarked, slave cemetery. It has collected hundreds of family genealogical records by interviewing residents and going through the census records. The museum also houses the Coweta Census Indexes from 1870 to 1920. The first black library in the county was the Sara Fisher Brown Library. Built in the 1950s, the library has since been converted into the Community Action For Improvement Center. The "Farmer Street Cemetery" is the largest slave cemetery in the south, and may be the largest undisturbed in the Nation. It is in the city limits of Newnan and was recently cleaned up again in August and September 2011.

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The land that is now Coweta County was named for Chief William McIntosh of the Coweta Tribe of the Creek Indian Nation. Newnan, the county seat, was first settled in 1828 and is named for North Carolina Native General Daniel Newnan, who was a soldier and later became Georgia Secretary of State and a United States Congressman. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with a nine-block central business district, the center of which was the courthouse. The streets were named for such famous Americans as Jackson, Jefferson, Washington and Madison.

Due in part to the success of the cotton industry, Newnan prospered at the turn of the century. Newnan's leading citizens invested in the railroad during the mid l800s, bringing economic prosperity to the town and establishing Newnan as one of the wealthiest towns per capita in the United States. The R.D. Cole Manufacturing Company, originally begun as a sawmill, won major construction contracts and was the contractor for a majority of the homes built in Newnan from the l880s until well after the turn of the century. In the l890s, the water works were built and electric street lamps were installed. During this time, brick buildings replaced the last wood framed structures on the square.

The Civil War came closest to Newnan in July 1864, when the battle of Brown's Mill occurred three miles south of town, resulting in the defeat of Federal forces under the command of General E.M. McCook by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler.

College Temple - the first college to offer a Master of Arts degree to women was used in the War Between the States as a hospital for wounded Confederate and Union troops, as was the courthouse and many local churches. Newnan was spared some of the ravages of the Civil War, and many historic homes, including General Wheeler's headquarters, still line the streets of the "City of Homes."

In the heart of Newnan's Downtown Commercial District, the Coweta County courthouse is an excellent example of Neo-Greek Revival architecture. The dome, which rises more than 100 feet, features clocks on all four sides. A bell in the tower announces each hour to the downtown area with quaint chimes. The courthouse is well known to visitors as the site of the murder trial of John Wallace, immortalized in the book Murder In Coweta County by Newnan native Margaret Anne Barnes. Her book was later made into a television movie starring Andy Griffith and Johnny Cash.

History of the Newnan Depot

The History Center building has an interesting past. Originally constructed as a freight and passenger depot for the Atlanta & West Point Railroad n the 1850's, it was the site of an encounter between Federal and Confederate forces in July 1864.

As a raiding party of Federal troops approached from the east, there were surprised at the depot by Confederate troops that had been detained by rail damage north of Newnan at Palmetto. A brief skirmish ensued, followed by a two-day pitched battle south of Newnan at Brown's Mill on Corinth Road, which ended in a victory for the Confederates.

After passenger and freight train service was discontinued in the 1950's, the depot briefly served as a seed store before the building fell in to disrepair. Subsequently, the passenger section and freight platform were torn down. In the mid-1990's, the remaining portion of the building was donated to the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society. In 2000, with renewed interest in the Battle of Brown's Mill, a plan was formulated to commemorate the Corinth Road site and use the depot as an educational facility. The Society, with the support and efforts of local Representative Lynn Smith, received a grant from the Governor's office to restore the building and prepare exhibits to interpret the famous local battle.

The Society has plans to obtain funds to rebuild the passenger and freight sections of the building. This space will provide additional exhibit space and meeting areas.

Four paintings by local artist Martin Pate, depicting the hospital site at the courthouse, the arrival of Federal troops at the depot, a battle scene at Brown's Mill, and the headquarters of Confederate General Joseph Wheeler, make up the exhibit. New exhibits are planned in the near future.

In additions to the paintings, the exhibit contains other artifacts related to the Battle at Brown's Mill. Also, display panels provide a brief overview of the history of Newnan and Coweta County throughout the 20th century.

History of Coweta County

Coweta County was part of the Creek Nation, named for the tribe headed by William McIntosh, Jr. McIntosh was a half-Scot, half-Creek who relinquished lands to the federal government in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. McIntosh was slain by an irate group of fellow Creeks at his home on the Chattahoochee River. Legend has it that McIntosh received gold in exchange for the lands and that the gold was buried and never found.

Early settlements in Coweta included Calico Corner (Grantville), Willow Dell (Senoia – named after William McIntosh’s mother,) Bullsboro and the county seat of Newnan, established in 1828.

By 1840, the beginning of the golden era in the South, orderly streets lined with mansions and cottages reflected the growing prosperity of Coweta County.

By mid-century the railroads brought greater fortune and sophistication to the community. The Male Academy and College Temple -- a prestigious school and the first to offer a Master of Arts for women -- were providing educational opportunities in Newnan.

The War Between the States caused a slowing in Coweta County's growth as sawmills fell silent; the railroads became part of the war effort and cotton production severely diminished. The beautiful antebellum homes found throughout Coweta County are said to have survived because of superb craftsmanship, tireless restoration efforts and the strategies of Confederate General Joe Wheeler who routed brigades of Union troops in the July 1864 Battle of Brown's Mill, just southwest of Newnan. Local churches, private homes, College Temple and the courthouse were turned into makeshift hospitals with wounded from both armies being treated.

The Battle of Brown’s Mill is significant in Civil War history because, even though the South won, it was a turning point for Union forces. General Sherman changed his approach based on the losses at Brown’s Mill and the rest is history.

Coweta County citizens worked hard after the devastation of the war and through that work and resilience, by the early 1900’s, a surge in industrial development had been firmly established.

By the late 20th Century, Coweta County began to experience a tremendous boom in growth, putting it consistently in the top 100 growth counties in the United States. This growth continues today, bringing opportunity and change. The beauty and the rural character of Coweta remain important parts of our heritage, encouraging innovative land use approaches that strive to maintain rural beauty, while allowing controlled development.

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Coweta County

Coweta County, Georgia's sixty-fourth, encompasses 443 square miles in west central Georgia, Coweta County at a Glance bordered by Carroll, Fayette, Fulton, Heard, Meriwether, and Troup counties. It was one of five counties created by the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs, when Chief William McIntosh relinquished Creek Indian lands to the United States. Coweta was named after McIntosh's tribe and their town, one of the largest centers for the Creek Nation.

The new county established its seat in the settlement of Bullsboro in 1826, with Walter Colquitt as the first superior-court judge. Because no clearly defined roads led to the settlement, a new site was located roughly two miles west. It was named for General Daniel Newnan, a Revolutionary War (1775-83) hero and Georgia's secretary of state at the time the county was established. Newnan ultimately became the main economic center for the county, although smaller communities were scattered throughout the region.

By 1860 the county had grown to almost 15,000 people, evenly divided between whites and blacks, with plantations and farms the main means of income. The Civil War (1861-65) brought changes to Coweta County.

Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection

Although the county had some war activity (the Battle of Brown's Mill was fought outside Newnan in 1864), Newnan became known as "the hospital city of the Confederacy." Because of its location on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, and its distance from the heaviest battles, the largest town in Coweta was selected to host a hospital for treating the wounded. Eventually Newnan would have seven hospitals and treat more than 10,000 soldiers from both sides. Many soldiers, including 269 Confederates who died in the town's hospitals, were buried in nearby Oak Hill Cemetery.

Before the war one in four county farmers owned slaves and land. After the war the southern economy changed. The textile industry found its way to the South and Coweta County. In 1866 the Willcoxon Manufacturing Company was the first cotton plant built in the county. By the early 1900s more cotton factories had opened. Textile mills continued to be built in the county. Together with such manufacturing firms as R. D. Cole, builder of Newnan's first water tower and manufacturer of war supplies, they made the county quite prosperous.

In the twentieth century Newnan became known as "the City of Homes." Many of the historic homes that line the streets of the town are listed on the National Register. Historic preservation has become an important part of life in Coweta County, and other communities, including Grantville, Moreland, Roscoe, Senoia, and Sharpsburg are involved in efforts to preserve regional heritage.

According to the 2010 U.S. census, Coweta's population is 127,317, a significant increase over the 2000 population of 89,215. The Central Educational Center, which opened in 2000, serves as a satellite campus of West Georgia Technical College and as a charter high school.

Some prominent natives of Coweta County include New York classical musician and conductor Charles Wadsworth, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Buford Boone, country singers Alan Jackson and Doug Stone, writers Lewis Grizzard and Erskine Caldwell, and former Georgia governors Ellis Arnall and William Y. Atkinson.