Histroical View of Jonesboro, Georgia

Historical View of Jonesboro, Georgia:

Jonesboro lies in that part of Georgia first opened to white settlement by the 1821 Treaty of Indian Springs and long occupied by the Coweta tribe of the Creek Indian Confederation. The community was originally known as Leaksville and was at the crossroads of the old Strawn Trail, an Indian trail running from the southwest to Stone Mountain, and the White Hall Wagon Road, running from the present West End section of Atlanta south toward Griffin. The Strawn Trail became an early stagecoach route.

Construction of the Monroe Railroad to Leaksville in 1843 marked a new life for community. That same year the railroad's chief engineer, Samuel Goode Jones (1815-86), laid out a new town according to a formal plan that literally overlay the original village. In appreciation for Jones's contribution, Leaksville was renamed Jonesboro. Regular service was opened on the railroad in 1846. The Macon and Western Railroad later became the Central of Georgia and is now a part of the Southern Railway system. Jonesboro immediately became an important railway trade center for a wide area in Fayette and Henry counties, although the town did not obtain its corporate charter until December 13, 1859.

As Jonesboro drew new citizens and merchants from the surrounding area, local leaders decided that it should become the seat of a new county. On November 30, 1858, an act of the state legislature created Clayton County, named for Augustin Smith Clayton (1783-1839), a distinguished attorney and congressman from Athens. The new county's land was taken from the original 1821 counties of Fayette and Henry. Until 1858 Jonesboro lay in Fayette County on the Henry County line. As the seat of Clayton County, Jonesboro was a thriving small town until the Civil War (1861-65) brought an end to the old order. The town was virtually destroyed during the war due to Union raids and the Battle of Jonesboro. Recovery was slow, and as late as the 1890s ruins left from the war remained in the Main Street business district. Only a few antebellum buildings now survive.

It is here where the Christian family has our Hermitage, a few miles out south of the community.

For more information about Jonesboro go to www dot Jonesboro Ga dot com .