Douglasville’s Historic Commercial District Founding Father’s walking tour presents information that illustrates the beginning stages of Douglasville’s economic and industrial development. Douglas County was created from Campbell and Carroll counties on Oct. 17, 1870. Located at a natural rise in the topography, Douglasville was originally known as Skint Chestnut, a name derived from a large tree used by Indians as a landmark, which was stripped of its bark so as to be more conspicuous. The Georgia General Assembly established the Town of Douglasville on February 25, 1875. An election was held on the first Saturday in March 1875, and a Mayor, treasurer, records, and marshal were chosen.
Douglasville was a “New South” postbellum railroad town that developed a dominant commercial district complemented by a cotton and mill industry. The espousal of Henry Grady’s New South Creed by a majority of Douglasville’s businessmen, professionals, and politicians transformed the little farming village of Douglasville into a thriving town.
The New South vision created a new commercial orientation that reshaped the southern railroad towns, revitalized local economies, and created buildings, which are still in use today. Before the Civil War, general stores stood at the crossroads of rural communities; storeowners went to the farmer. By 1880 farmers in need of credit and goods from merchants came to town. The rise of southern railroad towns and the farmers’ shift to cash crop agriculture were mutually reinforcing trends that fostered a spirit of entrepreneurial boosterism among local businessmen and professionals. As railroads and diversified trade became integral elements of the South’s economic renaissance during the 1880s, entrepreneurs with ties to their city’s economy assumed key leadership roles. They embraced New South ideology and created an environment that welcomed investment and economic development.
The city of Douglasville, Georgia from 1880 to 1915, exemplified everything that New South boosters claimed to need to remedy the South's post-Civil War economic stagnation. Joseph S. James, a New South booster, local lawyer, and Douglasville’s first Mayor, as well as, other local boosters worked hard to establish the railroad, banks, and commercial district, as well as capture northern investment capital to build industry.
Lawyers, bankers, farmers, merchants, teachers, preachers, doctors, public officials-any man who stood out among his neighbors, or whose economic position allowed him a little freedom of action, was likely to be requisitioned into service or to venture for himself. New South boosters pooled their resources to accomplish their goals. This is seen in the recruiting of the railroad, the building of the commercial district and cotton mills and other related enterprises in Douglasville. This tour will reveal not only the historical architecture of the buildings in Douglasville’s Historic Commercial District, but will present a snapshot of how the Founding Father’s vision of industry and enterprise became a reality in Douglasville.
Printable Version of the
Douglasville Historic Commercial District Walking Tour
Printable Version of
Interpreting Douglasville's Historic Commercial District