City Spotlight on Statham: Born from Humble Beginnings

Like much of North Georgia, Statham was created from land inhabited by Creek and Cherokee Indians.

The arrival of white settlers in the 1780s led to the acquisition of a segment of an Indian village called Calamit. Legend holds that land was purchased from Chief Umausauga for 14 pounds of beads, earning it the nickname of Beadland. The official name was originally the Tallassee Colony for its location on the Tallassee Shoals of the Mulberry River.

Over time, individual communities began forming in portions of the Tallassee Colony. In one such community, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Statham of England established a country store combined with a post office — around which a town began to grow. First known as Barber’s Creek and then DeLay, the name of the post office was eventually changed to Statham in 1892 — the same year the town was incorporated and established its first charter. Major crops for the area included cotton, hay, corn and small grains.

Growth began in earnest with the arrival of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in the early 1890s as Statham evolved from a village with a few homes into a bona fide town. The Statham family donated part of their land to be used as town property. The first depot was built about 1900, and another — which still stands today — was built in 1912. By the early 1900s, Statham had opened its first bank, hardware and furniture store, drug store, meat market, hotel, dental parlor, cotton warehouse, brick plant, livery stables, blacksmith shop, barber shop, two cotton gins, three churches and a public school system.

Unfortunately, the invention of the automobile combined with new roads drew business away from Statham and into larger towns and cities such as Atlanta. The Great Depression during the 1930s forced many of these early businesses to shutter their doors. Eventually, suburban sprawl would bring prosperity back to the region as more and more people chose small town charm and lower population density over the hassles of rush hour traffic.

According to the United States Census Bureau’s 2005 population estimates, residents of Statham number above 2,500. Today, the city continues to grow and thrive as new businesses and new homeowners make the choice to set down roots. Rich with history and steeped in southern tradition, Statham's historic district was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 17, 1998. If you wish to take a self-guided tour, maps of the historic district are available at .

Sources

Barrow County Comprehensive Plan 1998-2018: Chapter 5 Historic Resources; Northeast Georgia Planning (negplanning.org ); authored by the Preservation Planner on behalf of the Barrow County Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee. http://www.negplanning.org/documents/32 (June 14, 2011)

City of Statham Website – History. http://www.cityofstatham.com/history.htm (July 20, 2011)

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