TOWNS
Monroe County administrative offices are located at 38 West Main Street, Forsyth, GA 31029; phone: 478-994-7000.
Beginnings [1]
The area of land which is present day Monroe County belonged to the Creek Indian Nation until 1821. The Creek Indian's defeat at the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend resulted in a treaty in which the Creeks ceded a large amount of land to the State of Georgia, including the area which is now Monroe County. The county was named for James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States and author of the Monroe Doctrine. The size of Monroe County was later decreased when portions of its land went toward the formation of Bibb, Butts, Lamar and Pike Counties.
Many of the first settlers were Scottish Highlanders, Englishmen and Irishmen who came from eastern Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Monroe County's oldest town, was originally named Cullodenville to honor William Culloden, a merchant who opened a store in the area around 1780. When the town was incorporated in 1887, the name was shortened to Culloden. The City of Culloden is also notable for being the location of Georgia's oldest Methodist church.
During the Civil War, Monroe County was the site a skirmish fought at Towaliga River Bridge on November 17, 1864, and the Battle of Culloden fought on April 19, 1865, ten days after General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The City of Forsyth was the location of a special hospital camp, reputed to be the first such camp in Georgia, and escaped much of the destruction associated with the Civil War. There is a confederate cemetery with over 300 burials is located Forsyth.
Agriculture remained a substantial part of the county's economy until the era of the boll weevil, whose destruction of the county's cotton caused many farmers to turn to commercial dairy farming. However, agriculture declined in favor of timber-related industries and textile production. In 1986, the construction of Interstate 75 cemented the county's departure from agriculture in favor of manufacturing.