Bartow County, Georgia

Northwest		North Gordon County	Northeast Pickens County
West Floyd County		Bartow County, Georgia		East Cherokee County
Southwest Polk County		South Paulding County	Southeast Cobb County

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History/Timeline

Georgia flag with Bartow logo.

Bartow County Story is the longest story in Georgia history.. It includes the Etowah River and its flood plain story.. Here one of the earliest North American American Indians built ceremonial mounds on the Etowah river and farmed ion the surrounding flood plains.. They preferred this fertile valley.. The Moundbuilders were in Northeast Georgia, from NE Georgia to the Great Southwest and from Mississippi Delta up to Wisconsin. ^[1]

Pre 1600's Before any white settlers, the area was inhabited by Woodland Indians, Mississippian Mound Builders, Creeks, and Cherokees. All had lived on the plains of the Etowah valley many many years.Native American population included Woodland Indians, Mississippian Mound Builders, Creeks, and Cherokees, who flourished in the fertile plains of the Etowah Valley for thousands of years. A remnant of one of these cultures, the Etowah Indian Mounds, is a state historic site.^[2]

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1755 - Creek Indians were descendants of earlier groups in the area. They fought with the Cherokee for the control of this land. Creek Indians lost the battle, thus forcing the group southwards.. A green zone was Etowah of the north to the Chattahoochee River in south. Here both tribes would hunt and trade without the other one attacking them.. Cherokee indians controlled the land in Bartow co. region until they were removed in 1838.^[1]

Etowah Indian Mounds.

A road called "Indian Trace" passed through Cartersville near the remains of the Cherokee town of Hightower. Travelers on this road were either robbed on the road or became settlers by 1830^[1]

Etowah Burial Grounds

1830's The city of Etowah, Georgia was founded by Jacob Stroup and Moses Stroup. After his defeat for election to presidency, Mark Anthony Cooper bought mines in Dade County and helped build the Western and Atlantic Railroad. He also built a new furnace to manufacture iron, lumber and flour. It is now mostly covered by Lake Alatoona^[1]

1830's Abundant resources, available land, and a promise of gold, brought white settlers here, via the 1832 land lottery and gold lottery. Settlers came from coastal Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina. ^[2][1]

Dec 2, 1832 Bartow County was created from the Cherokee lands of Cherokee County territory with the name of Cass County. It was named after Gen. Lewis Cass (1782-1866), Secretary of War under President Andrew Jackson, Minister to France and Secretary of State under President James Buchanan. General Cass was instrumental in the removal of Cherokee Native Americans from the area.The first county seat was at Cassville, but after the burning of the county courthouse and the Sherman Occupation, the seat moved to Cartersville, where it stayed. ^[1][3][2]

1st County Seat,1842 - By 1843 the County Seat of Cassville was incorporated. The county seat of Cassville was laid out the next year and incorporated in December 1843.

mid 1840's The Western and Atlantic Railroad came through the area. Castile, Kingston, and Adairsville were the important stops. Kingston had a large rail yard with 5 churches. The rail yard in Adairsville did repair and maintenance on the trains.. Birmingham also had a depot, then changed its name to Cartersville in 1846. ^[1]

Cooper's Furnace .

1840's The iron belt runs north to south, through the entire eastern length of the county, supports the iron industry from the 1840s to the 1870s. The largest iron producer was the Etowah Manufacturing and Mining Company at Etowah, where Cooper's Furnace remains, which Cooper built. See below for . Iron is no longer mined, but mining and processing of other ores continues. ^[2]

1850 Cassville became the largest community in North Georgia. When the Western and Atlantic Railroad came through in the mid-1840's, Cassville, Kingston and Adairsville were the major stops. Kingston housed a large rail yard and 5 major churches. The maintenance facility in Adairsville did most of the work on the trains. The city of Birmingham, which also received a depot, changed its name to Cartersville in 1846.^[1]

1857 -Etowah had a population of 2,000 - 4000 people with church, post office, bank, school, railroad and a bordello. Etowah townspeople loved Cooper. When he was near bankruptcy, 37 people loaned Cooper money to repay the loan..^[1]

1859 Cooper repaid the loan with interest and built the statue, Friendship Monument which overlooks the Etowah River Valley in a park what is built around the depot in Cartersville..^[1]

Bartow Co. map.

Dec 6, 1861 - Southerners conservatives renamed the county to Bartow. Gen. Cass had supported the union, was abolitionist.. Gen. Francis S Bartow, who was killed July 21, 1861 at Manassas Plains. Barton had originally never visited Bartow County and lived 200 miles from the County nearer Savannah. Although Cass supported the doctrine of popular sovereignty, the right of each state to determine its own laws independently of the Federal government, the Georgia conservative Southerners removed his name. ^{[3] [1] [2]}

1862 The Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&A) was important during the Civil War as it was the Confederacy's main source of transportation (ran parallel to present-day I-75 from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee). It was of strategic value during union Gen. William Sherman's campaign here. The only Bartow county wealth that remained intact was the Railroad and industries that Gen. Sherman needed to use... ^[2][1]

1862- 64 Civil War camps formed to train Civil War troops. Two were Camp Felton near Cartersville and camp Foster at the Etoway River Bridge near Etowah Station. Galts' Regiment troops were trained there. Cassville, Georgia and Etowah were burned and looted by General Tecumseh Sherman. Other towns were heavily damaged. ^[1]

1862-65 Civil War Cass County Courthouse was burned by Sherman.. Union Troops sacked the County and homes for supplies and food. The War set the county back economically for 20+ years. This disruption, together with deaths of Farms were in turmoil as there were no slaves, and deaths of 1/3 of the county soldiers left its toll on the county.. Some estates were saved, such as Barnsley's Woodlands.^[3][1]

1865 the last fragment of the Confederate army east of the Mississippi was paroled at Kingston.^[2]

Roselawn

Fortifications near the RR.

Oct 1864 - Numerous skirmishes occurred in this county in Kingston and Cassville, where Confederate cemeteries were established.. One of the shortest, bloodiest battles occurred at the deep cut for the railroad at Allatoona Pass. The Great Locomotive Chase or (Andrews Raid) involved the same railway during the Raid in Bartow county. Cassviile was destroyed during the Civil War by the union forces, including the courthouse. After the battle of Allatoona Pass and losing the city of Atlanta, General John Bell Hood returned to the county briefly with his forces to fight the Union at Allatoona Pass..^[1][2]

May 18, 1864 Cassville is remembered by Civil War historians as The Cassville Affair. Confederate General Joe Johnston was planning a major battle here (his troops were badly outnumbered. Cassville was occupied by Union troops from May to Oct, 1864.. Oct 30 orders were given to burn Cassville. Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston planned a major offensive here after tricking Sherman into dividing his forces at Adairsville. . However, during the evening of May 18, 1864, Gen. John Hood convinced Johnston to withdraw south to Allatoona. With 20 minutes notice, on Oct 30, orders were issued to burn Cassville The town had 2 colleges, 4 hotels, a newspaper, homes, wooden sidewalks and the courthouse. 2 homes, and 3 churches survived the burning ^[4]Blue and Gray in Bartow

1867- county seat was moved to Cartersville, the next largest town. ^[2]

Cartersville

1866-70's Slaves gained their freedom, and voted for the Republican Party for 10 years. By 1870, 1/12 black family owned farms. Many African Americans lived in white households, while working as servants or farm laborers... A majority of the freepeople were day laborers. Cotton became the major crop. Both Bartow and Cherokee counties were leaders of cotton production in northern Georgia.^[3][1]

late 1870's Everyone in the county was suffering hardship. African Americans were severely affected by the Jim Crow laws.^[3]

RESOURCES in Bartow County

Red Top Mountain State Park is in Bartow County. Lake Allatoona, is in a large portion of the southeast corner of the county.George Washington Carver, 1st African American state park, was located in Bartow which is now part of Red Top park in 1975. Historical attractions include nineteen National Register listings, among them Adairsville Historic District, Etowah Valley District, and the North Erwin Street and North Wall Street Historic Districts in Cartersville.

• Cartersville is home to the first outdoor wall advertisement for Coca-Cola, painted in 1894.
• The county boasts the first outdoor Coca-Cola wall sign, the Euharlee Covered Bridge, and the *Friendship Monument in Cartersville. Cultural attractions include museums, performing arts centers, and theatrical companies.

Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs.

• Bartow County also hosts the annual Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs. A campus of *Chattahoochee Technical College and a satellite campus for Georgia Highlands College are located in the county, both in the town of Acworth.

1902 Bartow County had the Cartersville courthouse built, neoclassical revival-style designed by Kenneth McDonald and J. W. Golucke.^[2]

1920-- Cotton bust due to drought, and the boll weevil again hit the area with a heavy toll. Both Georgia and Federal governments began major construction of hU.S. Hwy 41 from Chattanooga to Atlanta to offset the economic failures.^[1]

1947 -- A dam that formed Lake Altoona was completed.. It had been proposed 1930, approved 1941. This lake formed from the Etoway River and Little River Waters. This became an attraction for the county, since it is close to Atlanta, offers sports and other outdoor attractions.The lake is technically a watershed, managed to control the seasonal floods of the rivers that it blocks. During winter the water is drained for space for the spring runoff, which refills the lake. ^[1]

Current:

• Bartow County also hosts the annual Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs.

New Riverside Ochre, Vulcan Materials, and Chemical Products are the largest mining industries currently in operation in the county.^[2]

Other major industries are Shaw Industries and Anheuser-Busch, Phoenix Air corporate headquarters are in the County.. Bartow County also serves as the corporate headquarters for Phoenix Air. Until the mid-1970s cotton remained the main crop in this largely agricultural county.

Government Offices

Bartow County has a sole commissioner government, and is the largest county by population of the few remaining in Georgia with a sole commissioner.

1st County Seat, 1843. -- at Cassville. 1By 1843 the county Seat of Cassville was incoroporated.

Old Cassville co. Courthouse.

1862-65 - 1st County Seat, General Sherman and other County Courthouse was burned, and Sherman Occupation. Cassville was looted.

2nd County Seat - Cartersville, 1869.

1867 courthouse, now museum

Geography

Size: total area of 470 square miles (1,217 km2), of which 460 square miles (1,191 km2) is land and 11 square miles (28 km2) or 2.2% is water.

Location - Located approximately 45 miles north of Atlanta and nestled in the rolling foothills of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains,

Type

Etowah River sub- basin Most of Bartow County is in the Etowah River sub-basin of the ACT River Basin (Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin).

Coosawattee River sub-basinThe northeastern portion of the county around Rydal is located in the Coosawattee River sub-basin of the same ACT River Basin

Oostanaula River sub-basinnorthwestern section around Adairsville is located in the Oostanaula River sub-basin of the larger ACT River Basin.

Lakes, Dams The Etowah is mostly part of Lake Allatoona in southeast Bartow and southwest Cherokee counties, with the Allatoona Dam near Cartersville, Allatoona Creek into northwest Cobb county. The peninsula between the two major arms of the lake is home to Red Top :Mountains - Red Top Mountain State Park, east-southeast of Cartersville and just southeast of the dam.

Adjacent counties

• Gordon County – north

Bartow and adj counties

• Pickens County – northeast
• Cherokee County – east
• Cobb County – southeast
• Paulding County – south
• Polk County – southwest
• Floyd County – west

Protected areas

• Etowah Indian Mounds State Park

Indian Mounds

• Red Top Mountain State Park is in Bartow County. George Washington Carver, 1st African American state park, was located in Bartow which is now part of Red Top park in 1975.
• Lake Allatoona, is in a large portion of the southeast corner of the county.

Demographics

In 2000 there are 76,019 people in the county with a population density of 63 persons/sq. mi. 64/km2 (166/mi2). There are 28,751 housing units at an average density of 24 persons/km2 (63 persons/mi2). As of the 2010 census, the population was 100,157. By 2010 there were 100,157 people with a population density of 217.9 people/sq. mi. The racial makeup of the county was 82.7% white, 10.2% black or African American, 0.7% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 3.8% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 7.7% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 13.9% were American, 10.0% were Irish, 9.3% were English, and 7.8% were German. The median income for a household in the county was $49,216 and the median income for a family was $56,281. The per capita income for the county was $22,241. About 10.8% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.^[5]

• Bartow County is now included in the Atlanta metropolitan area, mainly in the southeastern part near Cartersville, which has become an exurb more than 40 miles (70 kilometers) from downtown Atlanta on I-75.

• Chattahoochee Technical College and a satellite campus for Georgia Highlands College are located in the county, both in the town of Acworth.

Schools

• Bartow County School District
• Cartersville City Schools
• Excel Christian Academy (Kindergarten - 12th Grade, SACS Accredited Academy)
• The Trinity School (Kindergarten - 8th Grade, SACS Accredited School)

Politics

• Bartow County has voted Republican since the 1960s. Mitt Romney carried the county in the 2012 presidential election with 75.1% of the vote. Barack Obama won the minority of votes in the county, at 23.5%, making Bartow County one of the least Democratic counties in Georgia

Highways - and OLD Secondry Roads

Cities

• Cartersville

Caetersville

• Emerson
• Adairsville
• Euharlee

• White
• Kingston
• Taylorsville

Towns

• Allatoona
• Corbin
• Rydal
• Atco
• Cassville
• Rowland Springs
• Stilesboro
• Pine Log (north of Rydal)
• Folsom
• Funkhouser

Historical Communities

County Resources

• Red Top Mountain State Park is in Bartow County. George Washington Carver, 1st African American state park, was located in Bartow which is now part of Red Top park in 1975.
• Lake Allatoona, is in a large portion of the southeast corner of the county.
• Adairsville Historic District
• Etowah Valley District
• North Wall Street Historic Districts in Cartersville.
• Cartersville is home to the first outdoor wall advertisement for Coca-Cola, painted in 1894.

Coca-Cola Sign

• Euharlee Covered Bridge,
• Friendship Monument in Cartersville. Cultural attractions include museums, performing arts centers, and theatrical companies.

Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs.

• Bartow County also hosts the annual Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs.

• Bartow History Museum, 1987 is located in the historic 1869 Courthouse in downtown Cartersville. Artifacts, photographs, documents and a variety of permanent exhibits focus on the settlement and development of Bartow County, Georgia, beginning with the early nineteenth century when the Cherokee inhabited the area. Early European settler life, the iron ore and bauxite industries, Civil War strife, post-war recovery, the Great Depression era, early textile industries and notable figures are depicted through interactive exhibits in the permanent gallery space. The museum offers a wide variety of education programs, and lectures.

1869 Courthouse, NOW Museum.

• Booth Western Art Museum, 2003 - 2nd largest Georgia museum an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) museum located in Cartersville. America’s Story through contemporary Western artwork, Presidential portraits and letters, Civil War art, more than 200 Native American artifacts, and Sagebrush Ranch children’s gallery. Booth Museum houses the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the country.

• Tellus Science Museum affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is a world-class 120,000-square-foot museum in Cartersville, just off I-75 at exit 293. The museum features four main galleries: The Weinman Mineral Gallery, The Fossil Gallery, Science in Motion and The Collins Family My Big Backyard. There is also a 120-seat digital planetarium and an observatory with a state-of-the-art 20-inch telescope located at Tellus.

• Euharlee History Museum, 1997 - located adjacent to the Euharlee Covered Bridge in Euharlee, Georgia, about 9 miles west of downtown Cartersville. The museum is a cooperation between the Euharlee Historical Society and the City of Euharlee.

• Adairsville Rail Depot Age of Steam Museum is located in a restored 1847 railroad depot on the Historic Public Square, in Adairsville along with a locally operated Welcome Center. The Museum displays artifacts and pictures covering almost 150 years of life in the area, including the Civil War, the chenille boom, railroad history, early farming implements, and weapons.

• Bartow County Georgia Hiking Trails

• Etowah Indian Mounds

200

Notables

• evangelist Sam Jones
• humorist Bill Arp
• novelists Corra Harris
• Francis Goulding novilist
• Baptist missionary Lottie Moon
• Iron pioneers Jacob Stroup and Moses Stroup
• Fame horse trainer Huratio Luro
• Confederate general P.M.B. Young
• Confederate William Wofford. Distinguished politicians include the first woman U.S. senator, *Rebecca Latimer Felton first woman US senator
• Senator Jefferson Davis
• U.S. attorney general Amos T. Akerman
• Robert Benham, former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
• former governor Joe Frank Harris
• William Felton, U.S. Congressman
• Warren Akin, Sr., member of Confederate congress
• Iron industrialist Mark Cooper
• major league baseball player Rudy York,
• Hall of Barnsley gardens, Adairsville named after Sir Godfrey Barnsley, builder of Woodlands mansion

Barnsley Gardens in Adairsville are named after

• Sir Godfrey Barnsley, the builder of Woodlands mansion and one of the models used by *Margaret Mitchell used a model of Woodlands mansion to create Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind.
• The gardens were based on designs by noted horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing.

Barnsley Gardens

Census

1840 --- 9,390 —

1850 --- 13,300 41.6%

1860 --- 15,724 18.2%

1870 --- 16,566 5.4%

1880 --- 18,690 12.8%

1890 --- 20,616 10.3%

1900 --- 20,823 1.0%

1910 --- 25,388 21.9%

1920 --- 24,527 −3.4%

1930 --- 25,364 3.4%

1940 --- 25,283 −0.3%

1950 --- 27,370 8.3%

1960 --- 28,267 3.3%

1970 --- 32,663 15.6%

1980 --- 40,760 24.8%

1990 --- 55,911 37.2%

2000 --- 76,019 36.0%

2010 --- 100,157 31.8%

Est. 2016 --- 103,807

Cemeteries

• Connesena Baptist Church Cemetery

• East View Cemetery

• Poplar Springs Cemetery

• Stamp Creek Baptist Church Cemetery

• Oak Hill Cemetery

• Kay-Corbin Family Cemetery

• Bethel Cross Roads Cemetery

• Old Salem Church Graveyard

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17} http://roadsidegeorgia.com/county/bartow.html
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10} http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/bartow-county
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartow_County,_Georgia
4. ↑ http://visitcartersvillega.org/the-blue-gray-in-bartow/
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartow_County,_Georgia#Demographics

• A History of Georgia: From Its First Discovery by Europeans to the Adoption of the Present Constitution in MDCCXCVIII, Vol 1, by William Bacon Stevens January 1, 1847 New York : D. Appleton

• http://visitcartersvillega.org/history/
• http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/bartow-county
• https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IP4vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2jsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4196%2C213560