FULTON COUNTY, GA - HISTORY  Tidbits

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I grew up in Fulton County on Butner Rd., which crosses
Camp Creek Parkway. I never knew that the part of
Fulton County that I lived close to used to be DeKalb
County.  1820/22 when Rev. J. M. Smith came from
Franklin County, GA.,  to what is now Fairburn Rd., SW,
Fulton County that it was inhabitated by Indians. His
grandson speaks about his grandfather grinding the
knives of the Indians.  Rev. J. M. Smith swappe his
land in Franklin Cty., GA  for 1000acres if land in
DeKalb County, GA.  The original deed of Mt. Gilead
Methodist Church , Fairburn Rd., Fulton County, GA was
written and recorded in DeKalb County.  

1854 Fulton County was formed and extended to what was
called Bryant's Crossing at Tell & County Line Rd.
Bryant's Crossing was just a big Dairy Farm.  The Dairy
Barn still stands today as it was built from Granite.
There was a store that belonged to this property and
the store was in Fulton County and the Dairy Barn was
in Campbell County.  

There was a little community called Cross Roads and
this is where Campbellton Rd & Fairburn Rd. cross in SW
Atlanta.  When Mr. J. M. Smith and another man decided
to build a buggy factory and get a post office located
there they changed the name to Ben Hill, GA  Do not
have a record of where the name came from.  This is
sort of like "Tell, GA being renamed "Cliftondale, GA."
when they decided to build the 1st subdivision there.
Needed a more sophisticated name to be able to sell the
houses.

Campbell County seat was orginally Campbellton which is
close to the Chattahoochee River. There is a marker
where the old Courthouse once stood and the Masonic
Meeting Hall that stood in the 1800's is still there.  
It was decided to build the Railroad and the powers
that were in charge of Politics in Campbellton did not
want the RR built thru their community. Said it would
ruin their lives.  Fairburn said they  could build it
there, this is about 10/15miles East.  The RR was built
thru Fairburn, the county seat moved there and the rest
is history.  Campbellton dried up and Fairburn
flouished. Campbell County Historical Society meets 3rd
Sunday in each month at the Old Campbell County
Courthouse. We have just opened a wonderful research
room in the Courthouse.  It is open 10:00AM to 2:00PM
each Tuesday.

By 1930/31 both Campbell County & Milton County plus
some other counties were what you might say bankrupt.
Fulton offered all the counties a deal.  Campbell &
Milton were the only two counties that took it.  By an
act of the GA State Legislature Jan 1, 1932 Campbell
and Milton County became Fulton County.  Part of
Campbell County also became Douglas County at the
Chattahoochee River.  My grandpa and daddy both were
born in Campbell County, GA