Historic Sites in Monroe County

The history of Monroe County

Monroe County was created by an act of May 15, 1821, from territory the Muscogee (Creek) Nation gave up earlier that year in a treaty signed at Indian Springs, and the land was parceled out to settlers through the state lottery. Named for President James Monroe, the original county was much larger than today's, taking in all of what became Pike County and portions of Bibb, Butts and Lamar. Forsyth was designated the county seat in 1823. Small landowners from eastern Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, poured in, and agriculture expanded on the labor of enslaved people, who numbered more than 10,000 by 1860, nearly two-thirds of the county's population. The Monroe Railroad, chartered in 1833 to connect Forsyth with Macon, was among Georgia's first rail lines. Forsyth also grew into a center of education: Tift College began in 1849 as the Forsyth Female Collegiate Institute, and a normal and industrial school for Black students founded there in 1902 later joined with a Fort Valley school to form what is now Fort Valley State University. Surviving landmarks include the 1896 Monroe County Courthouse, a restored Central of Georgia depot that houses the county museum, the waterfalls of High Falls State Park, and Juliette, transformed into the town of Whistle Stop for the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orggeorgiahistory.com