A short history of Griffin, Georgia

I hear a lot about Griffin these days. A lot of what I hear is negative. Someone asked me why Griffin had stayed relatively the same over the years and other cities in the area, like, say Atlanta, had grown and continued to grow. Perhaps this is a rather daunting task that would require one to look at how Griffin grew over the years and then look at how other towns and cities grew at the same time. If one did this, after some time of exposition, one could potentially compare the two communities and determine the differences in which the two communities had grown and finally determine why one grew and one did not.

I am not sure it is necessary to compare communities in order to understand why Griffin is the community that it has become. I think it would be interesting to look at Griffin over the years since its birth in 1841 and see how it waxed and waned over the years. I think we will find that there have been spikes of growth and cultural developments which are remarkable. I think we will also find that there is a continous movement toward Griffin and a countervailing movement away from Griffin. I think we will also find that Griffin, while unique in certain ways, and yet unremarkable and similar to other communities in other ways.

In thinking about this, I decided that there have probably been a series of thirty or forty year periods during the history of Griffin that will differentiate from one another and will show how Griffin was different from other communities and also similar to other communities. Of course, there are certain things about Griffin's history which will set it apart from other places. Some of these are geographical elements which haven't changed over the years. Some of these elements are regional which will be similar to other communities in the Southeast United States and Central Georgia. Finally, historical elements will effect how we look at Griffin.

So here follows my short history of Griffin, Georgia:

1. Geography

Griffin, Georgia is near the center of the State of Georgia, in the southeastern part of the United States of America. Griffin is part of Spalding County, which straddles the geographical divide of the State of Georgia, meaning that bodies of water which are found in the eastern part of the county ultimately flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Bodies of water which are found in the western part of the county flow into the Gulf of Mexico. This is significant because it shows the connection that Griffin, Spalding County has to the easternmost part of our state, which, of course, was the first place of settlement by European settlers, who followed those rivers and streams northwestward toward Griffin. It also shows the connection this area has to the western-tending areas which move away from Griffin. In this way, the geography shows how people have been drawn to Griffin and then drawn away from Griffin toward the west.

Griffin lies in the piedmont area of Georgia, which is on the northern edge of Central Georgia and near the southern edge of North Georgia. The terrain is not significantly mountainous or hilly as it becomes as you travel further north in the state. On the other hand, there are fairly large expanses of relatively flat land which made this area good for farming and other agricultural pursuits. Before there was any significant settling by Europeans, the land was significantly timbered and covered with streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. The land contained sufficient water to provide for settlement and the watering of crops and livestock.

2. Pre-European History

The area around Griffin, Georgia was originally inhabited by pre-Columbian tribes which built earthen mounds used for ceremonial and residential purposes and earthen fetishes which resembled giant birds and other animals. These mounds and earth sculptures replicated other constructions found in other parts of North America and Central America. What happened to these tribes is open to conjecture. The remnants of their lives leave us with more questions than answers.

The ultimate native American tribe which predominated in and around Spalding County before and during the early development of the area around Griffin were the northern tribes of the Creek peoples. The Creek tribes stretched from the area of Spalding County eastward to the Ocmulgee River and westward into Alabama and south to the Florida line. The Cherokee tribes were immediately to the north of this area. The land in which Griffin is located was ceded by a half Creek, half Scottish native american named Chief McIntosh who lived east of Griffin in Butts County. Chief McIntosh ceded the land claimed by the Creek Indians to the State of Georgia. The land he ceded began northeast of Griffin and followed what is the northern boundary of Spalding County westward. It is significant that Cheif McIntosh was half Caucasian, had participated in early historical wars on the side of European Georgians for which he was rewarded by the State of Georgia, and then was murdered by the Creeks who objected to his sale of the Creek territory including Spalding County.

A lot more could be said about the pre-European history of Griffin, but the establishment of Griffin in 1841 began the long history for which we are most interested.