Historic Sites in Calhoun County

The history of Calhoun County

Calhoun County was created by an act of the legislature on February 20, 1854, from parts of Early and Baker counties in southwest Georgia, on land that had once belonged to the Muscogee (Creek) people. It is named for John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who served as U.S. secretary of war, vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and secretary of state, and who became a leading defender of states' rights and slavery. The choice of a county seat divided early residents: one faction favored Concord and another Whitney, so leaders compromised by founding a new town, Morgan, halfway between the two. Morgan was incorporated in 1856. The rivalry resurfaced in 1923, when the legislature moved the seat to Arlington after a referendum, but the decision was reversed in 1929 and Morgan regained the courthouse. The county's courthouse burned in 1888 and again in 1920, and the present Colonial Revival building was completed in 1935. Besides Morgan, the county includes the towns of Arlington, Edison and Leary, and Edison's commercial district and Arlington's United Methodist Church are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Agriculture has always dominated, though many old family farms have given way to wildlife and hunting plantations.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orggeorgiahistory.comen.wikipedia.org