Habersham County Historical Timeline | Northeast Georgia LifeStyle

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Batesville General Store, Established 1904

July 8, 1817– Lands ceded by the Cherokee Indians in the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency
December 18, 1818– Habersham County was created by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1818, p. 27) from the lands ceded by the Cherokee Indians on July 9, 1817 in the Treaty of the Cherokee Agency. Habersham County was named in honor of the famous Georgia political figure, Joseph Habersham (1751-1815). Habersham was a leader in the independence movement in Georgia prior to the American Revolution and after the war, Habersham served as U.S. Postmaster General (1795-1801).
February 27, 1819- Additional Cherokee lands were ceded to Georgia in the Treaty of Washington.
December 21, 1819- Legislature added additional lands to the western portions of Habersham and Hall counties (Ga. Laws 1819, p. 23)
1820- Population: 3,145
1823- Clarkesville was incorporated as a village and designated the county seat.
1828-1829- Remaining unallocated Cherokee lands ceded were added to Habersham and other Georgia Counties. (Ga. Laws 1828, p 88 and Ga. Laws 1829, p 98)
1830- Population: 10,671
1840- Population: 7,961
1850- Population: 8,895
1857- The most western part of Habersham County at this time was added to Lumpkin County, which had been created in 1832. That same year, the area east of Lumpkin and west of present-day Habersham became White County.
1859- Banks County was carved from Habersham’s southern-most territory.
1860- Population: 5,966
1861-1865- Civil War: During the Civil War, the Habersham Iron Works and Manufacturing Company produced arms for the Confederacy.
October 12, 1864- Confederate troops defeated Union troops at the Battle of Narrows (also called the Battle of Currahee), which was fought at a mountain pass in the county. This Confederate victory was said to have saved Habersham County from pillage by the Union troops. Nearly 1,000 men from Habersham fought for the Confederacy.
1870- Population: 6,322
1870’s– In the 1870s, the “altus” (high-point) of the railroad line through the area was located at Alto, and the town took its name from this railroad term. This is where the Northeastern Railroad connected the Richmond-Danville Air Line Railroad.
1870-1900- the counties economy was enhanced by the arrival of railroads, the planting of apple orchards and vineyards, and the founding of Piedmont College.
1880- Population: 8,718
1880s- Immigrants, mostly from Germany and Switzerland, arrived in Habersham County to plant vineyards and set up wineries, but the state of Georgia adopted a strict prohibition law before their labor could yield profits, and many of them returned to Europe.
1889- Demorest was founded as a planned community advocating temperance. Its original settlers were from the Midwest and New England, and the town’s architecture reflects their influence. Demorest was named for the famed prohibition speaker W. Jennings Demorest, and began in 1890 by northern real estate promoters under the name Demorest Home Mining and Improvement Co.
1890- Population: 11,573
1896- Baldwin was incorporated, taking its name from Joseph A. Baldwin, an Atlanta-Charlotte Air Line Railroad official.
1898- During the 19th Century, Clarkesville, with its temperate summers, attracted well-to-do families hoping to escape the heat of South Georgia. For a time there were county residents who strongly wished to relocate the county seat to Toccoa, which at that time was a part of Habersham County. There was a large feud about the topic and when the Clarkesville courthouse was blown up in 1898, those who had advocated for the move to Toccoa were blamed.
1900- Population: 13,604
1905- The County Seat feud was settled and Stephens County was created with Toccoa as its county seat, leaving Clarkesville as the county seat for Habersham County. Parts of Banks County were included in the creation of Stephens County.
1910- Population: 10,134
1920- Population: 10,730
1926- Lee Arrendale State Prison was built and named after Lee Arrendale, who the former Chairman of the Georgia Board of Corrections. The facility was originally designed as a tuberculosis (TB) hospital, when treatment was primarily rest in sanatoriums. It operated until the mid-1950s; after the introduction of antibiotics for treatment, TB was better controlled and such hospitals were no longer needed.
1930- Population: 12,748
1937- Chenocetah Mountain Tower was erected.
1940- Population: 14,771
1950- Population: 16,553
1960- Population: 18,116
1963- The counties 4th Courthouse was built
1970- Population: 20,691
1980- Population: 25,020
1990- Population: 27,621
2000- Population: 35,902
2005- the Department of Corrections made the decision to make Lee Arrendale prison and exclusive general purpose women’s prison.
2010- Population: 43,041

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