HISTORY of Griffin & Spalding County
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FOR HISTORICAL LANDMARKS

IN GRIFFIN & SPALDING COUNTY

 

 

Confederate Cemetery
Veterans Memorial Park 

 Griffin and Spalding County has its share of colorful tales, personalities, unique places and unforgettable events.  All of this allows Griffin and Spalding County to present a great historical perspective of a great and growing Southern community.
 
Prior to the founding of Spalding County, General Lewis Lawrence Griffin proved a man of vision when he chose an ideal location for a town along his Monroe Railroad’s north-south route.  Although the major emphasis eventually shifted instead to the town of Terminus (later called Marthasville and finally renamed Atlanta) to the north, the original plan’s design was sound.
 
Spalding County has the distinction of being Thomas Spalding’s namesake.  Known as Georgia’s Benjamin Franklin, Spalding was a prominent figure in agriculture, politics, and banking.  His contributions to the state in these fields were immeasurable.  Therefore, upon his death in 1851 his name was immortalized by awarding it to our newly created county, a fitting remembrance.
 
One of Spalding County’s most famous residents, John Henry “Doc” Holliday, was born August 14, 1851, and baptized March 21, 1852, in the Presbyterian Church in Griffin.  After receiving a degree from Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, he moved back to Georgia and had a successful practice in downtown Griffin before ill health forced his move out West.  He died November 8, 1887, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
 

Information is available from both the Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce and the Griffin Downtown Council/Main Street Office regarding a thoughtfully planned walking tour of Historic Griffin.  The tour involves up to 37 sites, which pan the years from 1850 to the early 1900s.  The original Spalding County Courthouse, built in 1859 by Demerest, is still standing on the southwest Corner of Broad and 5th Streets.  Though it is no longer used as the county seat of government, the building is one of Georgia’s few remaining antebellum courthouses and houses the University of Georgia Extension Service offices.
 
More recent places and events are now in the history of Griffin and Spalding County.  Just prior to the 1996 Olympic Games, 12 local community heroes carried the Olympic torch along the route traversing Griffin and Spalding County.  As an integral part of the 1996 celebration, local citizen Wyomia Tyus, an Olympic Gold Medal winner in both 1964 and 1968 Games, was honored by having the county’s newest park named for her. 
 
The passing of the last great century reminds us that our future is shaped by our past.  Tomorrow’s history is being written today and is building on its successful story.

 

Griffin/Spalding Historical Society 770-229-2432 or visit www.griffinhistory.com

General Griffin Statue
Unveiled at One Griffin Center