Historic Sites in Henry County

The history of Henry County

Henry County was created in May 1821 under Georgia's land lottery act, one of the large counties laid out on land the Muscogee (Creek) Nation ceded in the Treaty of Indian Springs signed earlier that year. It is named for Patrick Henry, the Revolutionary-era patriot and orator. McDonough, the county seat, grew on the site of a prominent Indian trading post, was incorporated on December 17, 1823, and takes its name from naval captain Thomas Macdonough, who defeated a British fleet on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. Shingleroof Methodist Campground has hosted camp meetings since 1830. Railroads, including the Monroe and Georgia lines, established depots in the county before the Civil War, a conflict that left Henry County as ravaged and impoverished as much of the South. Recovery came in the 1880s with rail expansion and cotton, but the boll weevil arrived around 1920 and a severe drought in 1925 prolonged the decline through World War II. The opening of Interstate 75 in 1969 made commuting to Atlanta practical and set off rapid suburban growth. Martin Luther King Sr. was born in the Stockbridge area, and James Weldon Johnson taught school in Hampton in the 1890s. The 1897 Henry County Courthouse, restored in 1981, remains a McDonough landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orgen.wikipedia.org