Historic Sites in Treutlen County

The history of Treutlen County

Treutlen County was created in 1918 from parts of Emanuel and Montgomery counties and named for John Adam Treutlen, the state's first governor. The Muscogee (Creek) lost these lands in the Indian cessions of 1773 and 1783, and after the Revolutionary War settlers were attracted by wiregrass that made good grazing for livestock. The Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad reached the area in 1902, the same year Soperton was incorporated, and the new rail town soon eclipsed the older community of Lothair. Local leader Neil Gillis championed the effort to form a new county, and Soperton became its seat. The courthouse, completed in 1920, was renovated in 1976 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. During the 1920s, cotton farmer James Fowler planted millions of pine seedlings and joined chemist Charles Herty in efforts to turn southern pine into newsprint, and in 1933 the Soperton News became the first newspaper in the United States printed on pine-pulp paper. Gillis's son, Jim L. Gillis, went on to serve as a state senator and highway commissioner. Former governor George Troup is buried at Rosemont, his plantation in what is now Treutlen County.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.org