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The town of Forsyth came into existence in 1822
after the new county of Monroe was created. The town was
incorporated and made the county seat by an act of the General
Assembly, December 10, 1823. The following pioneer residents were
named as commissioners: James S. Phillips, Henry H. Lumpkin, John E.
Bailey, Anderson Baldwin, and Samuel Drewry. Land for the city was
purchased from John T. Booth, on February 18, 1823, for the sum of
$700 for his 202 ˝ acre land lot, number 171. The town was laid off
into lots of two and one-half acres each, which afforded ample room
for garden plots and spacious green lawns. The city limits consisted
of a circular area with a radius of ˝ mile from the courthouse
square. By 1827, Forsyth contained 70 houses and stores, an academy,
a house of worship for Baptists, and an elegant courthouse and jail.
The first brick store in Forsyth was built by Cyrus Sharp. The first
courthouse was built of logs.
Forsyth experienced intensive commercial growth between the mid 19th
and early 20th centuries. This growth was brought to the area by the
arrival of the railroad in 1838 (Forsyth is home to the first
passenger rail service in Georgia), 19th century cotton agriculture
(farming and 2 cotton mills), and the opening of Tift College in
1849 (2nd oldest founded female college in the world).
Forsyth was named in honor of John Forsyth who was an eminent
American political leader born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He
graduated from Princeton in 1799 and was admitted to the bar in
1802. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1813-18) and
the Senate (1819-19). From 1819-1823, Forsyth was U.S. minister to
Spain and gained the Spanish king’s ratification of the treaty of
1819 ceding Florida to the United States. Again he served the U.S.
House of Representatives from 1823-1827. During the period from
1827-1829 he was governor of Georgia. His career continued as he
once more entered the U.S. Senate from 1829-1834. A final political
service was from 1834-1841 as Secretary of State.
(Quoted from “Monroe County, Georgia A
History” published by the Monroe County Historical Society, Forsyth,
Georgia) |