History of Griffin, Georgia

History of Griffin, Georgia. . The city of Griffin, Georgia, was founded on June 8, 1840 by General Lewis Lawrence Griffin, a former state legislator, general in the Georgia militia, railroad man and astute business man., In the 1830's, there were three railroads in Georgia. One ran from Savannah to Macon, one from Augusta to Madison, and the Monroe Railroad owned by General Griffin which ran from Macon to Forsyth. A fourth one was in the planning stages which would run from a little town called Terminus in north Georgia to Chattanooga, Tennessee., The general believed that if all of these railroads were fully developed and extended there would be very important railroad lines of communications crisscrossing the state connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Tennessee River and Augusta to the Chattahoochee River. He predicted that where the railroads crossed, a great city would emerge. According to his calculations, they crossed at a spot on a farm owned by Bartholomew Still in what was then a part of Pike County. General Griffin purchased 800 acres from Still and platted out the city which would bear his name. On June 8, 1840, he stood on a tree stump near this site and began auctioning off lots. Construction on his railroad from Forsyth to Griffin was started and the city in the wilderness prospered. Unfortunately, a business depression hit and the Monroe Railroad collapsed, along with General Griffin's dream., At a later date, other railroad men took up General Griffin's idea and completed the project. In the process, they adjusted the Augusta to Chattahoochee River line slightly to the north and it crossed at the little town of Terminus, which later became the city of Atlanta. Thus, just as General Griffin predicted, where the two lines crossed, a great metropolis did develop., However, Griffin, just 40 miles south of Atlanta, continued to develop into a charming, quintessential Southern town and community. It became the county seat of the newly formed Spalding County and a major manufacturing and agricultural center.